[Quietus]

We made some banana oil (isoamyl acetate) from isopentyl alcohol. I'm not sure if this is a common lab, but we mixed acetic acid with the acohol, added a few drops of sulfuric acid, and some silica gel beads to remove the water byproduct (thus driving the equilibrium to the right). One of the questions asks why the sulfuric acid must be neutralized before the reaction was worked up (we washed the products with sodium hydroxide before distilling). Maybe being protonated changes the boiling point of the ester? I don't know. Any other ideas?

[thfmag]

At the end of the reaction you poured your mixture in water/ice in a separatory funnel. The bottom aqueous layer contained then the sulfuric acid. This aqueous layer was acidic and had to be neutralised with sodium hydroxide so that you could then discard it in the sink safely.
Washing your organic layer (top one, which contained the ester) with NaOH could also remove the unreacted acetic acid (and again traces of sulfuric acid).
 CH3CO2H + NaOH :rarrow:CH3CO2-Na+  + H2O; and CH3CO2Na goes in the aqueous layer.

[Yggdrasil]

What happens to the equilibrium of the reaction as you raise the temperature?  How would removing the sulfuric acid prior to distillation prevent this?

[Quietus]

What happens to the equilibrium of the reaction as you raise the temperature?  How would removing the sulfuric acid prior to distillation prevent this?

Are you implying that if the sulfuric acid was still present, when I raised the temperature to begin distillation that the reaction would "reactivate" and begin creating the alcohol again?

[thfmag]

What happens to the equilibrium of the reaction as you raise the temperature?  How would removing the sulfuric acid prior to distillation prevent this?

Are you suggesting that he would reform the acid and alcohol during the distillation? How could this be possible even in the presence of sulfuric acid? Where does the water come from?