Answer to Question #278496 in Chemistry for Ali

Question

What is the role of hydraulic acid in the process of manufacturing benzoic acid. Justification is to write the equilibrium equation for the reaction between hydraulic acid and the benzoate ion.

please reply .

Answer 1

The first industrial process involved the reaction of benzotrichloride (trichloromethyl benzene) with calcium hydroxide in water, using iron or iron salts as catalyst. The resulting calcium benzoate is converted to benzoic acid with hydrochloric acid. The product contains significant amounts of chlorinated benzoic acid derivatives. For this reason, benzoic acid for human consumption was obtained by dry distillation of gum benzoin. Food-grade benzoic acid is now produced synthetically.