[hkalfighter]

ethanoic acid and ethyl ethanoate
apart from using fractional distillation , can i use technique of solvent extraction to separate them.
add NaOH and ether to the solution and form 2 layers (organic and aqueous) and then run off 1 layer , add NaOH to the aquous layer to regenerate ethanoic acid and distill off ether to get ester.
my doubt is that whether ester form H-bond and dissolve in the aqueous layer and i can't separate them this way

[wereworm73]

Ethanoic acid & ethyl ethanoate are both miscible in ether.  Maybe chloroform, dichloromethane, or something oily would work better.

[hkalfighter]

really ? ethanoic acid is miscible with ether even in the form of sodium ethanoate ?? why ? because ethanoic is a weak acid

[wereworm73]

Hydrated sodium ethanoate is still soluble in ether.  Also, ethyl ethanoate is soluble in water (about 8g per 100mL around room temp.) as well as sodium ethanoate & ethanoic acid.

[Borek]

What do you want to use ether for? Won't it be enough to shake your mixture with water solution of NaOH to remove acetic acid?