How will you convert benzoic acid to methyl benzoate?

Answer. The purpose of this experiment is to convert benzoic acid to methyl benzoate via an acid catalyzed reaction with methanol. The reaction will be prepared by Fischer esterification, which involves the reaction reaching equilibrium after refluxing for a few hours.

How is methyl benzoate formed by esterification?

Esterification. If a solution of methyl alcohol and benzoic acid containing a small amount of sulfuric acid is headed under reflux for about an hour the ester methyl benzoate is formed.

What is the product of the Fischer esterification reaction between benzoic acid and methanol?

In this Fischer esterification reaction, benzoic acid (a carboxylic acid) is esterified with methanol (an alcohol) in the presence of sulfuric acid (an acid catalyst) to produce methyl benzoate (an ester). Note that methanol becomes part of the reaction product.

What is the formula of methyl benzoate?

C8H8O2Methyl benzoate / Formula
Methyl benzoate is an organic compound. It is an ester with the chemical formula C6H5CO2CH3. It is a colorless liquid that is poorly soluble in water, but miscible with organic solvents.

How is benzoic acid prepared from ethyl benzoate?

A mixture of ethyl benzoate (2 ml) and sodium hydroxide solution (15 ml, 10%) is refluxed in a round bottomed flask fitted with a water condenser on a water bath (temp. 90-100 oC) for about 30 minutes till the ester layer disappears. Then the solution is cooled and acidified with HCl.

What type of reaction is Fischer esterification?

Fischer esterification reactions The reaction is an example of a nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction. The substitution is based on the nucleophilicity of the alcohol and electrophilicity of the carbonyl carbon.

How do you make methyl benzoate from benzene?

(i) Methyl benzoate is the ester of benzene. It can easily be prepared after preparing benzoic acid. So, we can form benzoic acid by Friedel Craft alkylation and then form an ester, we can just oxidize the formed acid to get methyl benzoate. The process is called esterification.

What is the first step in Fischer esterification?

The general form of Fischer esterification mechanism is as follows: The first step involves protonation of the carbonyl oxygen, followed by the nucleophillic attack of the alcohol. Then a loss and regain of a proton, followed by loss of water as electrons from the alcohol oxygen kick down to form the double bond.