Synthesis of Ethyl Acetate

Ethyl acetate is a kind of organic compound with chemical formula C₄H₈O₂. It is a kind of ester with functional group-COOR (there is a double bond between carbon and oxygen). It can undergo common reactions of general esters such as alcoholysis, aminolysis, transesterification and reduction. It is mainly used as solvent, edible flavor and cleaning deoiling agent.

Required Reagent

Glacial acetic acid 12mL (12.6g, 0.2mol); absolute ethanol 19mL; concentrated sulfuric acid 5mL; saturated sodium carbonate solution; saturated calcium chloride solution; anhydrous magnesium sulfate.

Operation Steps

Add 12mL glacial acetic acid and 19mL anhydrous ethanol to 100mL round bottom flask, slowly add 5mL concentrated sulfuric acid under shaking, mix evenly, add a few zeolites, install reflux condensation tube, heat reflux 30min. After it is slightly cold, it is changed to a distillation device, a few zeolites are re-added, and the crude ethyl acetate is obtained by heating and distilling in the water bath until there is no more effluent in the boiling water bath. Slowly add saturated sodium carbonate solution to the crude product under shaking until the organic phase is neutral. Transfer the liquid into the liquid separation funnel, shake and remove the water layer. The organic phase is washed first with 10mL water, then with 10mL saturated calcium chloride solution, and finally with water. Discard the lower liquid, transfer the ester layer to a dry conical bottle and dry it with anhydrous magnesium sulfate.

The dried crude ethyl acetate was filtered into a 50mL distillation bottle and distilled in a water bath to collect 73℃~78℃ fractions.

Ethyl acetate can form a binary or ternary azeotrope with water and ethanol. The boiling point and composition are shown in Table 1. Despite the process of removing ethanol and water, the ethyl acetate obtained by distillation still contains a small amount of ethanol and water.

Table 1 The mass fraction and boiling point of each component of ethyl acetate and water or ethanol to form binary or ternary azeotrope.