CHEM 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Equilibrium Constant, Hydrolysis, Butyl Acetate
Document Summary
How to make the equilibrium favour the product you want. The formation and hydrolysis of esters was discussed in chapter 12 where we established that acid and ester are in equilibrium and that the equilibrium constant is about one. The position of the equilibrium favours neither the starting materials or the products. The important point is that, at any one particular temperature, the equilibrium constant is just that constant. This gives us a means of forcing the equilibrium to favour the products (or reactants) since the ratio of the two must remain constant. Therefore, if we increase the concentration of the reactants (or even that of just one of the reactants), more products must be produced to keep the equilibrium constant. One way to make esters in the laboratory is to use a large excess of the alcohol and remove water continually from the system as it is formed, for example by distilling it out.
