Experiment to show reaction of ethanol with sodium
Answers
Answer:
If a small piece of sodium is dropped into some ethanol, it reacts steadily to give off bubbles of hydrogen gas and leaves a colourless solution of sodium ethoxide, CH3CH2ONa. Sodium ethoxide is known as an alkoxide.
If the solution is evaporated carefully to dryness, the sodium ethoxide is left as a white solid.
Although at first sight you might think this was something new and complicated, in fact it is exactly the same (apart from being a more gentle reaction) as the reaction between sodium and water - something you have probably known about for years.
Compare the two:
We normally, of course, write the sodium hydroxide formed as NaOH rather than HONa - but that's the only difference.
Sodium ethoxide is just like sodium hydroxide, except that the hydrogen has been replaced by an ethyl group. Sodium hydroxide contains OH- ions; sodium ethoxide contains CH3CH2O- ions.
If a small piece of sodium is dropped into some ethanol, it reacts steadily to give off bubbles of hydrogen gas and leaves a colourless solution of sodium ethoxide, CH3CH2ONa. Sodium ethoxide is known as an alkoxide. If the solution is evaporated carefully to dryness, the sodium ethoxide is left as a white solid.