Preparation of Ethyl Acetate

If you want to make ethyl acetate, you must detail the method and follow the steps before you can get it.

Prepare all kinds of things first, ethanol and acetic acid are required, and the two are the main materials for making this ester. Also prepare concentrated sulfuric acid, which is used as a catalyst in the reaction to promote the rapid reaction. Various devices also need to be complete, such as flasks, condenser tubes, receivers and the like.

Put an appropriate amount of ethanol in the flask, slowly inject concentrated sulfuric acid, stir it, and mix it well. Then add acetic acid dropwise, stirring while adding, to prevent local overheating. After adding, connect the condenser tube, fill the lower end with water, and pass the upper end to the receiver.

Heat the flask slightly with fire, so that the temperature gradually rises. In the meantime, ethanol and acetic acid are esterified under the catalysis of concentrated sulfuric acid. The reaction formula is: $CH_ {3} COOH + C_ {2} H_ {5} OH\ underset {\ Delta} {\ overset {H_ {2} SO_ {4}} {\ rightleftharpoons}} CH_ {3} COOC_ {2} H_ {5} + H_ {2} O $.

When reacting, it is necessary to control the temperature moderately, do not make the temperature too high, cause the reactants to evaporate too much, and prevent side reactions from happening. In the condenser, there are droplets flowing down and dripping into the receiver. This liquid contains ethyl acetate.

After the reaction is completed, cool down. The resulting product is mixed with unreacted ethanol, acetic acid and sulfuric acid. To obtain pure ethyl acetate, separation and purification are required. Wash it with a saturated sodium carbonate solution first to remove acetic acid and reduce the solubility of ethyl acetate. Then use a separation funnel to separate the liquid, discard the lower aqueous phase, and obtain the upper ethyl acetate. Dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate, except for the remaining water.

In this way, through various operations, pure ethyl acetate can be obtained for various needs.