Question

What functional group is in ethyl butyrate?

Answer 1

The ester functional group, `RC(=O)OR'`.

Explanation:

Ethyl butyrate is the ethyl ester of butyric acid, `H_3C-CH_2CH_2C(=O)OH`.

Rxn:

`H_3C-CH_2OH + HO(O=C)CH_2CH_2CH_3 rarr H_2O + H_3C-CH_2O(O=C)CH_2CH_2CH_3`

Answer 2

Ethyl butyrate is another name for ethyl butanoate. Some common names and their corresponding IUPAC equivalents are:

• formate = methanoate
• acetate = ethanoate
• propionate = propanoate
• butyrate = butanoate
• valerate = pentanoate

An alkanoate is a salt or ester derivative of a carboxylic acid group (such as sodium acetate/ethanoate), so ethyl butanoate is the ester derivative of butanoic acid.

It forms from an esterification reaction of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) with butanoic acid on high heat in the presence of an acid catalyst (such as `"H"_2"SO"_4`) to remove the `"OH"` from the alcohol and the `"H"` from the carboxylic acid.

I've highlighted the atoms that are removed as `"H"_2"O"`.

CHALLENGE: Can you draw the mechanism?