Isopentyl Acetate Essay

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Isopentyl Acetate (banana oil) 1.Introduction: The purpose of this lab was to synthesize Isopentyl acetate (banana oil). Isopentyl acetate is an ester that smells like banana, hence the name "banana oil." Other natural mimicking fruit flavored esters are isobutyl formate(raspberry) or benzyl acetate (peach). Esters are organic compounds formed by the reaction of alcohols and carboxylic acids. We encounter esters every day when smelling or tasting artificially flavored foods. Candy or cereal are examples of artificially flavored products. Food industries are big on esters because they often mix flavors to mimic a natural one. For example, a chemist can mix natural flavors along with carboxylic acids and certain oils in order to produce a mimicked natural aroma or flavor. Fragrance industries also synthesize their own esters for pleasant fragrances.The process of synthesizing esters is called fisher esterification, which is the condensation reaction or the carboxylic acid and alcohol. The esterification mechanism for this reaction allows us to see how both the alcohols and the carboxylic acids react along with the acid catalyst, which pushes the reaction forward. Without the acid catalyst the reaction would not proceed on it's own. To complete this experiment a couple techniques were accomplished. The first was done by setting up a Reflux apparatus in order to heat the reaction mixture which contained 2.5mL of isopentyl alcohol, 3.5mL of glacial acetic acid, and 0.5mL of concentrated sulfuric acid(catalyst). The mixture was left to boil for 60 minutes(1hr) with a boiling stone inside the heating vial for mixing. After completion of the heating process, the vial with the product was left to cool to room temperature. The next step was to extract the organic layer of the product. First, the product was transferred from the heating vial to a centrifuge tube
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