Answer to Question #92998 in Organic Chemistry for Ataniya

Question

What is esterification?

Answer 1

The esterification is one of the types of reactions in organic chemistry. This type of reactions involves interaction between alcohol and acid which results in the forming of the ester. This reaction is also known as the Fischer esterification and requires the presence of the acid as the catalyst. It must be noted, that the linking oxygen between carbonyl and alkyl group in the ester molecule initially belongs to the alcohol molecule, not to the organic acid molecule. The mechanism of the reaction is given below: