Question

Esters are sweet-smelling substances and are used in making perfumes. Suggest some activity and the reaction involved for the preparation of an ester with well labelled diagram.

Answer 1

(i) Take 1 mL ethanol and 1 mL glacial acetic acid along with a few drops of concentrated sulphuric acid in a test tube.
(ii) Warm the contents in a water bath for atleast five minutes. (iii) Pour the content onto a beaker containing 20-50 mL of water and smell the resulting mixture.
(iv) Sweet smell would be observed.
Reaction
`underset("Ethanoic acid")(CH_(3)COOH)+underset("Alcohol")(CH_(3)CH_(2)OH)underset(H_(2)SO_(4))overset(Conc.)toCH_(3)-underset("Ester")underset(O)underset(||)C-OC_(2)H_(5)+H_(2)O`