Question

With a labelled diagram describe in brief an activity to show the formation of ester.

Answer 1

The activity given below shows the formation of ester :

• Take 1 mL ethanol (absolute alcohol) and 1 mL glacial acetic acid along with a few drops of concentrated sulphuric acid in a test tube.
• Warm in a water-bath for at least five minutes as shown in the figure below.
• Pour into a beaker containing 20-50 mL of water.
• After some time, there will be the formation of a fruity smell compound. The compound formed is an ester.

The formation of the ester can be represented by the chemical reaction as:

\[\ce{\underset{\text{(Ethanoic acid)}}{CH3COOH} + \underset{\text{(Ethanol)}}{C2H5OH}->[conc. H2SO4] \underset{\text{(Ester)}}{CH3COOC2H5} + H2O}\]