Ethyl alcohol esters from

Drying by hydrolysis. The production of extremely dry (99 -9-(- per cent.) ethyl alcohol from commercial absolute alcohol (99-f percent.) is possible by taking advantage of the fact that the hydrolysis of an ester consumes water. Thus if the absolute alcohol is treated with a little sodium in the presence of an ester of high boiling point e.g., ethyl... 

Extremely dry (or super-dry ) ethyl alcohol. The yields in several organic preparations e.g., malonic ester syntheses, reduction with sodium and ethyl alcohol, veronal synthesis) are considerably improved by the use of alcohol of 99-8 per cent, purity or higher. This very high grade ethyl alcohol may be prepared in several ways from commercial absolute alcohol or from the product of dehydration of rectified spirit with quicklime (see under 4). 

The ethyl alcohol is easily removed from the excess of ester by distillation through a short column. 

Place 1 0 ml. of hydrazine hydrate (CAUTION corrosive chemical) in a test-tube fitted with a short refiux condenser. Add 10 g. of the methyl or ethyl ester dropwise (or portionwise) and heat the mixture gently under refiux for 15 minutes. Then add just enough absolute ethanol through the condenser to produce a clear solution, refiux for a further 2-3 hours, distil oflF the ethyl alcohol, and cool. Filter oflF the crystals of the acid hydrazide, and recrystallise from ethanol, dilute ethanol or from water. 

Ethyl phenylethylmalonate. In a dry 500 ml. round-bottomed flask, fitted with a reflux condenser and guard tube, prepare a solution of sodium ethoxide from 7 0 g. of clean sodium and 150 ml. of super dry ethyl alcohol in the usual manner add 1 5 ml. of pure ethyl acetate (dried over anhydrous calcium sulphate) to the solution at 60° and maintain this temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile equip a 1 litre threenecked flask with a dropping funnel, a mercury-sealed mechanical stirrer and a double surface reflux condenser the apparatus must be perfectly dry and guard tubes should be inserted in the funnel and condenser respectively. Place a mixture of 74 g. of ethyl phenylmalonate and 60 g. of ethyl iodide in the flask. Heat the apparatus in a bath at 80° and add the sodium ethoxide solution, with stirring, at such a rate that a drop of the reaction mixture when mixed with a drop of phenolphthalein indieator is never more than faintly pink. The addition occupies 2-2 -5 hoius continue the stirring for a fiuther 1 hour at 80°. Allow the flask to cool, equip it for distillation under reduced pressure (water pump) and distil off the alcohol. Add 100 ml. of water to the residue in the flask and extract the ester with three 100 ml. portions of benzene. Dry the combined extracts with anhydrous magnesium sulphate, distil off the benzene at atmospheric pressure and the residue under diminished pressure. C ollect the ethyl phenylethylmalonate at 159-160°/8 mm. The yield is 72 g. 

When dealing with esters of water-soluble, non steam-volatile, poly-hydric alcohols e.g., ethylene glycol or glycerol), the distillate consists of water only (density 1 00). The water soluble, non-volatile alcohol may be isolated by evaporation of the alkahne solution to a thick syrup on a water bath and extraction of the polyhydric alcohol from the salt with cold ethyl alcohol. 

The residue in the flask is either a solution or a suspension of the potassium salt of the acid derived from the ester in diethylene glycol. Add 10 ml. of water and 10 ml. of ethyl alcohol to the residue and shake until thoroughly mixed. Then add a drop or two of phenolphthalein and dilute sulphuric acid, dropwise, until just acid. Allow the mixture to stand for about 5 minutes and then Alter the potassium sulphate. Use the clear filtrate for the preparation of a sohd derivative or two of the acid (see Section 111,85,4). 

Convincing evidence that ester hydrolysis in base proceeds by the second of these two paths namely nucleophilic acyl substitution has been obtained from several sources In one experiment ethyl propanoate labeled with 0 m the ethoxy group was hydrolyzed On isolating the products all the 0 was found m the ethyl alcohol there was no 0 enrichment m the sodium propanoate... 

The saponification of 0 labeled ethyl propanoate was desenbed in Section 20 11 as one of the significant expenments that demonstrated acyl-oxygen cleavage in ester hydrolysis The 0 labeled ethyl propanoate used in this expenment was prepared from 0 labeled ethyl alcohol which in turn was obtained from acetaldehyde and 0 enriched water Wnte a senes of equations... 

The stoichiometric and the catalytic reactions occur simultaneously, but the catalytic reaction predominates. The process is started with stoichiometric amounts, but afterward, carbon monoxide, acetylene, and excess alcohol give most of the acrylate ester by the catalytic reaction. The nickel chloride is recovered and recycled to the nickel carbonyl synthesis step. The main by-product is ethyl propionate, which is difficult to separate from ethyl acrylate. However, by proper control of the feeds and reaction conditions, it is possible to keep the ethyl propionate content below 1%. Even so, this is significantly higher than the propionate content of the esters from the propylene oxidation route. 

Ketones and esters are required for C-type inks. Types of esters are ethyl acetate, isopropyl acetate, normal propyl acetate, and butyl acetate. From the ketone class, acetone or methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) can be used. The usual solvent for D-type inks are mixtures of an alcohol, such as ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, with either aUphatic or aromatic hydrocarbons. Commonly used mixtures are 50/50 blends by volume of alcohol and aUphatic hydrocarbon. 

Other by-products include acetone, carbonaceous material, and polymers of propylene. Minor contaminants arise from impurities in the feed. Ethylene and butylenes can form traces of ethyl alcohol and 2-butanol. Small amounts of / -propyl alcohol carried through into the refined isopropyl alcohol can originate from cyclopropane [75-19-4] in the propylene feed. Acetone, an oxidation product, also forms from thermal decomposition of the intermediate sulfate esters, eg. 

Medium Boiling Esters. Esterificatioa of ethyl and propyl alcohols, ethylene glycol, and glycerol with various acids, eg, chloro- or bromoacetic, or pymvic, by the use of a third component such as bensene, toluene, hexane, cyclohexane, or carbon tetrachloride to remove the water produced is quite common. Bensene has been used as a co-solvent ia the preparatioa of methyl pymvate from pymvic acid (101). The preparatioa of ethyl lactate is described as an example of the general procedure (102). A mixture of 1 mol 80% lactic acid and 2.3 mol 95% ethyl alcohol is added to a volume of benzene equal to half that of the alcohol (ca 43 mL), and the resulting mixture is refluxed for several hours. When distilled, the overhead condensate separates iato layers. The lower layer is extracted to recover the benzene and alcohol, and the water is discarded. The upper layer is returned to the column for reflux. After all the water is removed from the reaction mixture, the excess of alcohol and benzene is removed by distillation, and the ester is fractionated to isolate the pure ester. 

A solution of 130 g. (0.52 mole) of this ester in 400 cc. of ethyl alcohol is placed in a two-necked 2-I. flask, carrying a dropping funnel and a reflux condenser, and is heated to boiling. Then one-third of a solution (Note 2) of 78.5 g. (1.4 moles) of potassium hydroxide in 400 cc. of alcohol is added from the dropping funnel, and the alcoholic solution is boiled until it becomes clear. Then a second third of the alkali solution is added, and the reaction mixture is again boiled until any precipitate disappears. Finally, the last third of the alcoholic potassium hydroxide solution is added. The addition of the alkali requires about twenty minutes. The reaction mixture is then boiled for forty minutes longer. 

The high yields of ethyl ester obtainable from the product attest its purity. A mixture of 50 g. of terephthalic acid, 500 ml. of absolute ethyl alcohol, and 25 ml. of sulfuric acid was boiled for 16 hours and then distilled to half its volume and poured into dilute aqueous sodium carbonate. There was obtained 56.7 g. of diethyl terephthalate (m.p. 42-44°), and from the wash water there was recovered 4.6 g. of terephthalic acid these materials account for 93.3% of the original substance. 

The most common impurities are the corresponding acid and hydroxy compound (i.e. alcohol or phenol), and water. A liquid ester from a carboxylic acid is washed with 2N sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide to remove acid material, then shaken with calcium chloride to remove ethyl or methyl alcohols (if it is a methyl or ethyl ester). It is dried with potassium carbonate or magnesium sulfate, and distilled. Fractional distillation then removes residual traces of hydroxy compounds. This method does not apply to esters of inorganic acids (e.g. dimethyl sulfate) which are more readily hydrolysed in aqueous solution when heat is generated in the neutralisation of the excess acid. In such cases, several fractional distillations, preferably under vacuum, are usually sufficient. 

Ethyl Acetate.— Esters m.ay be obtained by (he dn ert action of the alcohol on the acid as in the case of methyl osalate. (I rep ad, p 101 . A certain ( iiantity of ethyl acetate is also obtained from ethyl ah ohol and acetic acld, -lnit the action, which i.s a v7 c .wWc one, slops when a eerlam pro )ortion of the constituents h.u-e (-oinl)ined (p. a34). It is repre.senled thus ... 

Styrolyl Acetate.—Styrolene alcohol, or phenyl-ethyl glycol, is an alcohol prepared from styrolene dibromide by the action of caustic potash. It can be esterified, and forms an acetic ester of the formula CgHj. CH(OH)CHg. OOC. CHg. It is an ester with a fine flower odour, which has been described as fragrant and dreamy . It is generally stated by those who have used it that it is indispensable in the preparation of fine flower bouquets with a jasmin odour. 

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