Method of making ethyl acetate
To make ethyl acetate, you need to prepare ethanol, acetic acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. First take an appropriate amount of ethanol and place it in a clean reaction vessel, and then slowly inject an appropriate amount of acetic acid. The ratio of the two should be precisely prepared according to the specific needs. Then, add concentrated sulfuric acid dropwise. This is the catalyst, but it is highly corrosive and must be handled with caution.

Stir the above mixture well to ensure that the ingredients are in full contact. After that, connect the reaction vessel to the distillation device and slowly heat it with an alcohol lamp or other heating equipment. During the heating process, the temperature needs to be strictly controlled to maintain a moderate reaction temperature of the mixture, which can promote the esterification reaction between ethanol and acetic acid.

As the reaction proceeds, ethyl acetate will rise with steam, be cooled by a condenser, and then liquefy and drop into the receiving container. Pay attention to the collection process to avoid loss of product fugitive.

After the reaction is completed, the obtained ethyl acetate or impurities still need to go through the purification step. Generally, it is washed with a saturated sodium carbonate solution first, which can neutralize the unreacted acetic acid, dissolve ethanol, and reduce the solubility of ethyl acetate, which is convenient for stratification. After the solution is stratified, carefully separate the lower liquid, and the upper layer is the purer ethyl acetate. Finally, it may be dried with a desiccant such as anhydrous magnesium sulfate to remove the remaining moisture, so that pure ethyl acetate can be obtained.