levo

Derivatives of Carboxylic Acids

Making esters from alcohols with carboxylic acids or acyl chlorides

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit A2 1

Overview

What is observed when ethanoyl chloride is added to ethanol, ester formed from butanoyl chloride and methanol and acyl chloride and alcohol needed to prepare propyl ethanoate.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Compare making ethyl ethanoate from ethanoic acid with making it from ethanoyl chloride, giving the equation and the conditions for each.

Key term

Write the equation for the formation of ethyl ethanoate from ethanoic acid and ethanol.

Key term

State the catalyst used when an ester is made from a carboxylic acid and an alcohol.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Write the equation for the formation of ethyl ethanoate from ethanoic acid and ethanol.

    Model answer

    The equation is CH₃COOH + C₂H₅OH ⇌ CH₃COOC₂H₅ + H₂O.

  2. 2

    State the catalyst used when an ester is made from a carboxylic acid and an alcohol.

    Model answer

    A few drops of concentrated sulfuric acid are used as the catalyst.

  3. 3

    Write the equation for the formation of ethyl ethanoate from ethanoyl chloride and ethanol.

    Model answer

    The equation is CH₃COCl + C₂H₅OH → CH₃COOC₂H₅ + HCl.

  4. 4

    State the conditions needed for the reaction of an acyl chloride with an alcohol.

    Model answer

    No catalyst and no heating are needed, because the two react vigorously as soon as they are mixed at room temperature.

  5. 5

    State what is observed when ethanoyl chloride is added to ethanol.

    Model answer

    There is a vigorous reaction and steamy white fumes of hydrogen chloride are given off.

  6. 6

    Give two advantages of the acyl chloride route over the carboxylic acid route.

    Model answer

    The reaction goes to completion rather than reaching an equilibrium, and it is very fast at room temperature without a catalyst.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Formulae, Equations and Amounts of Substance
Atomic Structure
Bonding
Intermolecular Forces and Structure

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Yellow to .
brownbluegreen

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe reactants total 159.6 + 84.0 = 243.6.
BThe two moles of iron have a mass of 111.6.
CThe atom economy is 45.8%.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

There are 1000 cm³ in one dm³.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Derivatives of Carboxylic Acids, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.