Proposta de preparação e caracterização de ésteres: um experimento de análise orgânica na graduação

Esters consist in one of the classes of chemical substances widely found in nature. Some esters of low molecular weight tend to have a pleasant flavor and therefore are widely used by food and drinks industries. The esters can be synthesized by the reaction between a carboxylate anion and an alkyl halide, or by Fischer esterification reaction. Industrially, this last reaction is one of the main procedures for the esters synthesis, and according this work, a simple experiment about this specific obtaining method is described and proposed for undergraduate discipline of organic analysis. The preparation of alkyl levulinate and lactate, from levulinic acid and/or lactic acid, is carried out in laboratory, easily, requiring three periods of four hours and is useful for chemistry teaching.