The Chemistry of Esters

Welcome to my website about the Chemistry of Esters.

I will be talking about the different aspects of esters:

• Formation of Esters from reacting alcohols with acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides
• Reactions of Esters(alkaline and acid hydrolysis)
• Uses of Esters

Here is the typical structure of an ester: where R could be any acyl group (be it methyl(CH₃), ethyl(CH₂CH₃), phenyl(C₆H₆ benzene ring) etc.)

A typical ester is one that is formed from an alcohol and a carboxylic acid giving water as a by-product
For example:

The -OH group is lost from the carboxylic acid and NOT the alcohol. When producing an ester (ie. in industry), the yield of the ester can be increased by moving the equilibrium to the right. As equilibrium opposes a change to a reaction, then you can produce more ester by removing water as it is produced, or by adding more reactants so that more products are made. Concentrated sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) is a great catalyst, as it acts as a dehydrating agent as well and removes the water as it is produced. Thus moving the equilibrium to the right and making more ester.

University of Sheffield Chemistry Department