In order to facilitate the formation of ethyl acetate, the following measures can be taken:
⑴ When preparing ethyl acetate, the reaction temperature should not be too high.
⑵ It is best to use glacial acetic acid and absolute ethanol. At the same time, the method of excess ethanol is used.
⑶ The amount of concentrated sulfuric acid used for catalysis is very small, but in order to remove the water generated in the reaction, the amount of concentrated sulfuric acid is slightly more than that of ethanol.
⑷ Use inorganic salt Na2CO3 solution to absorb volatile acetic acid.
The reason why alkali (NaOH) cannot be used with Na2CO3.
Although it can also absorb acetic acid and ethanol, the base will catalyze the complete hydrolysis of ethyl acetate, causing the experiment to fail.
The direct esterification of ethylene and acetic acid to produce ethyl acetate uses phosphate as a catalyst.
Acetaldehyde condensation method: Condensation reaction of acetaldehyde with aluminum alkyl as a catalyst to produce ethyl acetate. Most foreign industrial production adopt this process.