when carboxylic acid is warmed with alcohol in the presence of a few drops of concentrated sulfuric acid as a catalyst → an ester and water are formed.
- during the formation of ethyl ethanoate → the group from ethanoic acid is replaced by the group from ethanol.
since an ester is formed in this reaction → it can be referred to as an esterification reaction reaction can also be known as condensation reaction → because 2 molecules react to form a single molecule(ethyl ethanoate) with the loss of a small molecule (water)
although alcohol has the hydroxyl () functional group → this group does not dissociate to form ions in water.
- hence alcohol is not a base and esterification is not an acid-base reaction
Note
opposite of esterification is hydrolysis