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Objectives:
● To synthesize benzyl acetate via the Fischer esterification of benzyl alcohol and
acetic acid.
● To characterize the synthesized benzyl acetate via qualitative tests.
Introduction: (add pre-q questions)
Esters, organic compounds that are naturally-occurring, have a general formula of
RCO 2 R’, and are water-insoluble. Esters are also characterized by their pleasant smell
sometimes observed in fruits and flowers and can be synthesized in the laboratory via
various processes, such as reacting alcohol (Benzylalcohol) with carboxylic acid (acetic
acid) — a process called Fischer esterification. They can also be prepared by mixing alcohol
and acyl chlorides, or anhydrides and alcohols (1).
The mechanism responsible for Fischer esterification is nucleophilic acyl
substitution, wherein the nucleophile attacks the carbon atom to form a tetrahedral
intermediate, instead of protonating it. This results in the expulsion of one of the carbon
atom’s substituents. The reactivity of the compound depends on the C=O bond; the more
electron-poor the C=O carbon, the more reactive it gets. The reactivity trend is as follows:
amide < ester < acid anhydride <acid chloride. Because of the differences in reactivity, a less
reactive derivative can be produced from a more reactive one (1).
In the process of Fischer esterification, the acid protonates the double-bonded O,
thereby making the carbon in the C=O atom more positive enough to attract a nucleophile
which is, in this experiment, alcohol. An H atom will then protonate the OH of the
newly-attached alcohol to form H 2 O, a good leaving group, which in turn will deprotonate
the other OH group to form a C=O bond and a hydronium ion. The advantage of Fischer
esterification lies in the fact that it is reversible, and the direction of the reactions here
(whether forward or backward) can be controlled by the number of reagents (2). However,
since the reaction is fully reversible, two things have to be done to ensure that the benzyl
acetate will not hydrolyze back to benzyl alcohol and acetic acid. Firstly, excess acetic acid
was used to drive the reaction forward. Additionally, all water formed in the process will have
to be removed (1).
The ester will be formed starting from the mixture of benzyl alcohol and acetic acid
which is protonated with concentrated sulfuric acid. The mixture is then allowed to reflux
over low-medium heat for an hour. Afterward, to maximize the yield and purify the product,
the reaction mixture is washed with water to remove unreacted benzyl alcohol and excess
acetic acid. For this step, the organic layer is at the bottom of the separatory funnel. Next,
the reaction mixture is washed with bicarbonate to remove any remaining traces of
remaining trace acetic acid. It also serves the purpose of neutralizing any unreacted acid.
Because sodium bicarbonate is a weaker acid, its reaction with the unreacted acid catalyst
will produce carbonic acid which dissociated into water and carbon dioxide. Thus, sodium
bicarbonate must be added before removing the aqueous layer in the last washing before
drying the organic layer. Finally, the reaction mixture will be washed with sodium chloride to
optimize the separation of the aqueous and organic layer. The sodium chloride increases the
ionic strengths of the aqueous layer making the separation of the layers easily observable.
Sodium chloride also removes polar impurities and water from the crude ester. For the
bicarbonate wash and the sodium chloride wash, the organic layer will be at the top of the
separatory funnel (1, 3).
In this experiment, benzyl acetate is synthesized using alcohol and carboxylic acid
particularly benzyl alcohol and acetic acid. The product is then characterized by qualitative
tests. The Hydroxamic Acid test can help verify the presence of an ester in the benzyl
acetate product. A positive result is seen if the test produces a red-violet solution.
Meanwhile, a Chromic Acid test is used to check for the presence of alcohol. A positive
result is indicated by the presence of blue-green precipitate. If the Chromic Acid test results
in a positive test result, then the benzyl acetate product still contains traces of benzyl
alcohol and was not fully synthesized (4).
Reagents and Products:
Reagent Physical and Chemical Chemical Hazard and Safety
Properties Precautions
Beaker 1 Mass, g
Beaker 2 Mass, g
Beaker 3 Mass, g
Beaker 4 Mass, g
Beaker 5 Mass, g
0%
1%
3%
5%
B. Characterization of Purified Product
Beaker Distance of Test Distance of Solvent Retention Factor
Solution from from baseline
baseline
1
2
3
4
5
Observations: