Why is the esterification reaction of formic acid and isopropyl alcohol hard to do?

1 Answer
anor277
Sep 11, 2017

Are you sure that this reaction is hard to do?

Explanation:

#(H_3C)_2CHOH+HC(=O)OHstackrel(H^+, Delta)rarr(H_3C)_2CHO(O=)CH#

The product has a normal boiling point of #68.2# #""^@C#, whereas formic acid has a normal boiling point of #100.2# #""^@C#. The other starting material, isopropyl alcohol, has a normal boiling point of #82.6# #""^@C#. There should be little difficulty in purifying the ester by distillation as the volatile fraction....

Related questions
See all questions in Introduction to Reactions and Mechanisms
Impact of this question
3571 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License