Making Esters

[Caleb]

After doing some reasearch, I have been wondering if making this ester at home would be okay, but I would like a second opinion (or more ) before I try it.

I am thinking (if it is safe) to try ispropyl alcohol and acetic acid, to make isopropyl acetate and water:

C3H7OH + HC2H3O2 = H2O + C5H10O2.

 

Thanks,

[hermanntrude]

Yes it should be fairly safe. The product is flammable, but then so are the starting materials. It's also an irritant and probably not great to drink, but other than that, yes, no problem.

 

However I'm not too sure how easy it's gonna be... isopropyl alcohol is a secondary alcohol and hence it's quite hard for the acid to get at the alcohol group. nevertheless, I expect you'll find a synthesis online somewhere, or perhaps a better organic chemist will pipe up here and let you know more details.

[Horza2002]

Yes like hermanntrude said, other than the products being flammable, i can't see what else could happen. Although I'd advice looking up the MSDS before you make it thoiugh. Treating ispropyl alcohol and acetic acid with just an acid, although good at catalysing the reaction will also catqalys the hydrolysis

[Kaeroll]

Acid + alcohol is a pretty crap way to make an ester generally speaking. Usually needs a much stronger acid catalyst than can be provided by the acid alone, making it more dangerous and less pleasant. It also usually requires reflux for a few hours. I really don't suggest boiling up vinegar in your kitchen!

 

For what it's worth nobody really uses this method (the Fischer esterification) anymore. Plenty of other methods about, though I've never tried one myself.

[chemboy]

i tried reacting glycerin and citric acid and i got a faint whight precipitate but no smell has this worked and what has it made

[Greg Boyles]

After doing some reasearch, I have been wondering if making this ester at home would be okay, but I would like a second opinion (or more ) before I try it.

I am thinking (if it is safe) to try ispropyl alcohol and acetic acid, to make isopropyl acetate and water:

C3H7OH + HC2H3O2 = H2O + C5H10O2.

 

Thanks,

 

 

You could use methylated spirits (ethanol) instead and end up with ethyl acetate. But it wont be pure due to the additives in metho.

 

I assume you intend to use vinegar as acetic acid but I suspect it wont be concentrated enough to get an appreciably reaction.

[Suxamethonium]

Hmmm, off the top of my head- you could try using iPrOH and glacial Acetic Acid in the presence of concetrated sulfuric acid under reflux for probably half a day or so? This would be the safest way at home but would have a low yeild (most likely much less than 50% - you may want to periodically distill off product and replace H₂SO₄ to maximise yield based on equilibrium).

 

Otherwise you would get better results if you used an acyl chloride with the iPrOH. This is problematic though because you have to buy it or make it (which involves thionyl chloride or phosphorous chlorides) which is pretty dangerous (not to mention you have to find or make those reagents too). If you could get hold of the acyl chloride (in this case ethanoyl (or acetyl) chloride) you would require anhydrous conditions and would produce HCl as the by-product.

[RajeshK]

Please dont try any reactions at home its not advisable to do so. If tried on large scale can produce a lot amount of flemmable material.

[Dr. Lennox]

I have to support RajeshK's response. Chemistry is for the lab, not for home. Even experienced chemists with 20 years of laboratory experience realize this. Your safety comes first.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Dr. Lennox

[John Cuthber]

I have to support RajeshK's response. Chemistry is for the lab, not for home. Even experienced chemists with 20 years of laboratory experience realize this. Your safety comes first.

 

I'm a chemist with rather more than 20 years' experience.

I learned chemistry doing experiments at home with a chemistry set.

I still do chemistry at home.

 

And, to top it all, cooking is practical chemistry.

 

You need to be careful doing chemistry wherever you do it, but that doesn't preclude doing chemistry at home.