Lab Report Esterification Lab

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The lab begins with reflux of the reaction to form an ester followed by several extractions from an organic layer. To purify the ester the compound is dried by gravity filtration with a drying agent, distilled using simple distillation, and recrystallized. The aldol condensation is reacted in a test tube and the solute is collected via vacuum filtration and recrystallized. The esterification procedure was performed first. To begin the lab, the heating mantle was set at the 6 setting, and the hot plate heat was turned on to low. In a round bottom flask, 6.1 g of benzoic acid and 21 mL of MeOH were added into the flask. Once this was added to the flask, 2 mL of sulfuric acid was added and poured carefully down the side of the flask. It was noted that after the addition of the sulfuric acid there was heat production in the flask. The contents were swirled and a boiling chip was added into the flask. The flask was connected to the hood by a clamp. Water was then ran through the condenser and connected to the round bottom flask to begin refluxing the contents in the flask. The mixture was gently heated at reflux for one hour. While the esterification reaction was under reflux, the aldol condensation procedure was performed. The hot plate was turned to The washes needed to be performed and during this lab it was important to make sure that no aqueous layer remained in the organic layer. This is important for when the final product is distilled in an air tight condenser (with no water flow). The temperature would have gotten fairly high that the water either would’ve distilled out before the final product or would have caused the glassware to break due to temperature difference occurring in the setup. A better yield could have been achieved during the drying of the product, which facilitated some loss of product if there would have been some aqueous layer remaining in the organic

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