Esterification of Ethanoic Acid
Esterification of Ethanoyl Chloride
Synthesis of an Ester
Above is the equipment which is used in the lab to synthesize and ester from a carboxylic acid and and alcohol, the carboxylic acid/alcohol mixture is heated as show with an acid catalyst, the ester formed is then collected in the flask to the right hand side.
The reaction for the formation of an ester is that of an equilibrium, and not a reaction that will go to completion. Le Chatelliers principle states that "when a system at equilibrium is subjected to a disturbance the composition of the system adjusts to minimize the disturbance". In other words, during the esterification reaction shown above, the "system" (in this case, the reaction) will be driven to the right hand side of the equation as more and more of the ester is removed in an attempt to minimize the disturbance caused by removing the ester. This is important as the effect can be used to increase the yield of the reaction. The solution labeled ester must be later purified, as the equipment simply increases yield and does not ensure a high purity.