Consider the following Fisher Esterification experiment: an unknown alcohol is m

Question

Consider the following Fisher Esterification experiment: an unknown alcohol is mixed with glacial acetic acid, drops of concentrated sulfuric acid, and silica gel beads (beads are used to absorb the water as it is generated in the reaction). The mixture is stirred, heated, and let to cool down. At this point, 0.5 mL of diethyl ether is added to increase the volume of the organic phase. Then comes the isolation of product step for which are used 3 x 2mL of 5%sodium bicarbonate solution. WHY do we use 5% sodium bicarbonate solution in this isolation step and WHAT GAS evolves from this washing step? What is the balanced equation for the reaction that produced this gas? Thank you.

Explanation / Answer

NaHCO3 wash is to remove unreacted acid from reaction mixture. during the process the acid converted to

corresponding sodium salt of carxylate and CO2 gas will evolve. this process makes effervescence.

RCOOH + NaHCO3 GIves RCOONa + CO2 + H2O

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