Question

Fischer Esterification Post lab question

1. Provide a brief description of how microwave works in the context of this reaction. How does it supply heat/energy to the reaction solution ? What does it mean for a reaction to be microwave promoted ?

We used glacial acetic acid and a primary alcohol .

Answer 1

Nowadays microwaves are used widely in chemical industries in order to help in speeding up chemical reactions. It is a fundamental concept that chemcials reactions often need some type of energy input to initiate the reaction process and speed it up.

In this reaction, we are using acetic acid and a primary alcohol. This is an esterification reaction. Esterification reactions are endothermic, which means that they absorb heat from the surroundings to give high energy products. This means that esterification reactions need energy input so that the reactions can proceed swiftly.

In this context, microwaves supply this energy. Microwaves are a form of electromagentic radiation, just like ordinary visible light, UV light ,etc. Microwaves carry significantly less energy than ordinary light or UV light because they have longer wavelengths and hence smaller frequencies.

When these waves hit the reactant molecules, they are absorbed and hence become a source of energy.

A reaction which is microwave promoted needs a slight push of energy into it in order to begin the chemical changes. These reactions do not have a very high threshold energy, hence microwaves can serve the purpose here.