Isopentyl Acetate Synthesis Lab Report

In this laboratory experiment, 3.030 g of Isopentyl Acetate was synthesized and formed by the esterification of acetic acid with Isopentyl Alcohol. 1.0 mL of Sulfuric acid was used as a catalyst in the reaction. The excess Isopentyl Acetate was used to shift the reaction to the right for esterification to occur. During the extraction, the excess of acetic acid and Isopentyl alcohol was extracted with sodium bicarbonate, and further purification of the Isopentyl acetate was done after through drying with anhydrous sodium sulfate and through simple distillation. The percent yield of the Isopentyl Acetate was 46.6 percent with a theoretical yield of 6.502g. In this laboratory experiment the acetic acid was in excess and the Isopentyl Alcohol was the limiting reagent, which ultimately the reaction depended upon on the

The yield could never be hundred percent with a reverse reaction. This reverse reaction also occurred because of one of the products, which was water. Esterification is the process of splitting hydrogen from the carboxylic acid (acetic acid) and hydrogen along with oxygen from the alcohol (Isopentyl Alcohol) to form water as a byproduct. During the reflux, all of the molecules in the original solution remained in the round flask including the water as the byproduct. As more water was formed, the amount of the products began to surpass the amount of reactants, which the reaction begun to run in the reverse direction. If the water has been dispensed into another container, this reaction would have continuously run toward to the products side. Following the isolation of the ester, a drop of Isopentyl Acetate was placed into an infrared spectrometer. When bonds within molecules absorb photons at different frequencies the IR spectrometer produces a graph to represent the bonds within the ester