Chemistry, asked by MerittoM, 1 year ago

In the preparation of ester by reaction of carboxylic acid and an alcohol, the ester is distilled as fast as it is formed. Why?

Answers

Answered by SAHASREEJA

The vapours that evaporate are cooled and condense back into the flask. The condenser is rearranged so that the mixture can be heated gently and the ester can then be distilled off from the remaining reactants and the water...so this is called heating under reflex

MerittoM: i am asking why the ester is distilled as fast as possible

SAHASREEJA: we do that because.... esterification is slow and reverseble process ....when we distill ester as soon as it formed to decrease the product concentration as to shift equilibrium forward in order to get more concentration of products...by using le chatelier principle

MerittoM: thank you

SAHASREEJA: :)

Answered by MajorLazer017

$\huge\textcolor{green}{\texttt{Answer :-}}$

This is because the reaction is reversible and boiling point of ester is less than that of carboxylic acid and alcohol.

Thus, in order to shift the reaction in forward direction the ester is distilled off as soon as it is formed.

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