Esterification of Ethanoic Acid
Esterification of Ethanoyl Chloride
What is Esterification
Esterification is the formation of esters from other organic compounds, the two kinds of synthesis I have listed on this website are the synthesis of an ester from a carboxylic acid and from an acyl chloride, both of which reaction with an alcohol to form an ester. However, there are many other ways of synthesizing esters, and I recommend looking in your local library if you find this site interesting and would like to learn more.
When an ester is made from a carboxylic acid and an alcohol it is heated under reflux and the ester is collected in a different beaker when it runs off, this is in order to prevent the reverse reaction occurring to as much as an extent as possible
Transesterification
*Proton transfer is simply shorthand to say 1 atom looses a hydrogen (proton) atom and another one gains it, they are not necessarily the same proton in the actual reaction
This is the mechanism for transesterification, it shows how an alcohol can attack an ester to form a different ester. Note how the second-last step is irriversable - this is achieved by removing the methanol as it is formed, this helps drive the reaction forward by le chatteliers' principle