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Why was the reaction mixture extracted with sodium carbonate in a Fischer esterification reaction?

Answer 1

Skylar Alexander

Well, look at the reactants...

You've completed the condensation...

#R'OH + HO(O=)CRstackrel(H_3O^+)rightleftharpoonsR'O(O=)CR+H_2O#

Any remaining unreacted acid in the organic phase will be eliminated by extraction using sodium carbonate solution.

#RC(=O)OH(aq) + Na_2CO_3(aq) rarrunderbrace(RC(=O)O^(-)""^(+)Na)_"water soluble"+Na^(+)""^(-)HCO_3#

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Answer 2

Jacob Anderson

The reaction mixture in Fischer esterification is extracted with sodium carbonate to remove any acidic impurities. This step helps neutralize and remove excess acids, such as unreacted carboxylic acids, which can affect the purity of the ester product.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.