CHEMISTRY IGCSE NOTES

Chapter – 28

Esters - If we heat alcohols and carboxylic acids together they’ll form an ester. Esters
are a homologous series which contain the functional group ‘-COO’ and can be
identified by their distinctive fruity smell. They also evaporate easily (we say they are
volatile) which makes them a useful group of compounds to use in perfumes and food
flavourings.

Let’s look at the reaction between ethanol and ethanoic acid to produce the ester, ethyl
ethanoate. This reaction requires an acid catalyst, which is usually concentrated sulfuric
acid.

CH3COOH + CH3CH2OH → CH3COOCH2CH3 + H2O

Naming esters - The first part of the name comes from the alcohol and the second part
from the carboxylic acid. For example, the ester ethyl propanoate would have been
formed by reacting ethanol and propanoic acid together.