[kumarentran]

i have synthesised an organometallic compound.(blue powder)
its copper(ii) benzoate which is a dimer compound with 4  4-halobenzoate ligands.
i estherified it by dissolving it in ethanol first and then adding 6M HCl (about 3ml).
the colour changed from tranparent to yellowish green solution with a slight smell of ester( sweet smell).
now i have to characterise i.
but i find it hard to extract the ester from the mixture.
i have tried extraction with choloform as i lack methylene chloride.
the choloform didnt quite seem to seperate the ester from the acid and ethanol mixture.
i also tried levelled distillation but the product is very less and th ester smell is very low as the sharp and strong acid smell intervenes.
can u describe me a way to retrieve the neutral ester without the acid

[movies]

How about extracting with ether or ethyl acetate from a basic aqueous solution?  That should deprotonate the acid and force it to remain in the aqueous layer.