Photo AI
Esters are the basis of many naturally occurring odours and are therefore widely used in the creation of artificial flavours - VCE - SSCE Chemistry - Question 3 - 2003 - Paper 1
Question 3
Esters are the basis of many naturally occurring odours and are therefore widely used in the creation of artificial flavours. Methyl butanoate is a component of the ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Esters are the basis of many naturally occurring odours and are therefore widely used in the creation of artificial flavours - VCE - SSCE Chemistry - Question 3 - 2003 - Paper 1
Step 1
a. Give a simple structure for the ester methyl butanoate.
Answer
The structure of methyl butanoate can be represented as follows:
CH₃
||
CH₃-CH₂-C-O-CH₃
| |
O O
| |
C=O
H
In this structure, the carbon chains of butanoic acid (4 carbon atoms) and methanol (1 carbon atom) combine to form the ester. The ester functional group is characterized by the presence of the carbonyl group (C=O) and the alkoxy group (O-CH₃).
Step 2
b. Using 1-butanol and methanol as starting materials give chemical equations showing the steps in the preparation of methyl butanoate. Give the name of any catalyst used.
Answer
-
The conversion of 1-butanol to butanoic acid is represented by the following equation:
- Next, butanoic acid reacts with methanol to produce methyl butanoate:
In this process, sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) is used as a catalyst to facilitate the esterification reaction.