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Why are lactones more acidic than esters?

Overview The only interesting thing about lactones is that if the ring size is relatively small, they necessarily adopt the (E) conformation. Therefore, the question essentially boils down to: for a ...
orthocresol's user avatar
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What is the name origin of ester?

The term "Essigäther" is actually the German name for ethyl acetate i.e Essig = "vinegar" + Äther = "ether". "vinegar" becomes acetic, hence ethyl acetate ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
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Unusual hydrolysis of methyl 2,4,6‐trimethylbenzoate

In the typical reaction of hydroxide ion with a methyl ester, the hydroxide attacks the carbonyl carbon of the ester, resulting ultimately in elimination of methoxide. Given the basic conditions, the ...
Andrew's user avatar
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10 votes

Why are peroxides unstable but disulfide bridges considered stable? Why are esters stable but thiolesters are unstable?

Some hard data: bond enthalpies (in $\pu{kJ mol-1}$) $$\begin{array}{c|c|c|c} \text{Bond} & \text{Enthalpy} & \text{Bond} & \text{Enthalpy} \\ \hline \ce{C-C} & 350 & \ce{Si-...
permeakra's user avatar
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On the use of hexane in the organic reduction by DIBAL-H

Unlike other reducing metal hydrides (e.g., $\ce{NaBH4}$ and $\ce{LiAlH4}$), diisobutylaluminum hydride (DIBAL-H) is a liquid at room temperature and dissolve in many hydrocarbons such as toluene and ...
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Are there amide versions of lactides and lactones?

Amide analogue of lactons are lactams, their tautomeric forms are lactims. Citing from the IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry (Preferred names 2013): P-66.1.5.1 Lactams and lactims ...
mykhal's user avatar
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8 votes

Why do amides require much harsher conditions for hydrolysis than esters?

Dimethyl acetamide (DMA) is less susceptible to hydrolysis than ethyl acetate (EA). This statement is true for aqueous acid or base. The infrared (IR) frequency for the carbonyl group of DMA is 1662 ...
user55119's user avatar
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Finding the mystery ester strucuture using NMR

Prediction software always has its limitations, and there is always a degree of error in the calculation. For the ChemDraw predictions, you will see that for the 3 aromatic environments, it has done 3 ...
long's user avatar
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Retrosynthesis of a lactone

The key to this synthesis should be — in my opinion — how to generate the two hydroxy functions with anti stereoselectivity starting from at least one achiral reagent. Most of the time you would ...
Jan's user avatar
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Which side of the C-O-C bond breaks in esters during hydrolysis in basic medium?

To answer this,Think about how an ester is formed. In the formation of an ester, wherin you react an alcohol with an acid in presence of conc.$\ce{H2SO4}$ $\ce{RCOOH + R'OH -> RCOOR' + H2O}$ Now ...
SubZero's user avatar
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Sulphuric Acid in Esterification Reaction

The esterification is not the only thing catalysed by sulphuric acid. Basically, it’s catalytic activity is protonation of whatever feels happy enough to be protonated. In your desired esterification ...
Jan's user avatar
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What happens on heating an ester?

This is an example of a Thermal syn elimination. The Wikipedia article is a good place to start: here image from here From ref 2 Unsymmetrical Acetate and xanthate esters yield a mixture of all the ...
Waylander's user avatar
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FTIR Spectra: Did I synthesize ethyl gallate from gallic acid?

The short answer: consider a technique complementary to IR spectroscopy, for instance $\ce{^1H}$-NMR spectroscopy. Your have good luck, as the public AIST spectral database holds records of IR spectra ...
Buttonwood's user avatar
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Why doesn't self condensation occur in acetoacetic ester synthesis

Self-condensation is typically not an issue with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds, such as the one in your question. Why? Due to their acidity ($\mathrm{p}K_\mathrm{a}$ around 9 to 11), most 1,3-dicarbonyls ...
Tan Yong Boon's user avatar
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What is the name origin of ester?

Just to add another resource besides the excellent find by Nilay, in Organic Chemistry, The Name Game, it mentions ester from German Essigäther (acetic ether) an early name for ethyl acetate The ...
ACR's user avatar
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Reaction of methyl triphenylbenzoate with concentrated sulphuric acid

The conditions are concentrated sulfuric acid so there is no water present to hydrolyse the ester. If it was dilute sulfuric then you would get the hydrolysis. This reaction proceeds by protonation of ...
Waylander's user avatar
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How to name an ester with an alkene or alkyne as the R group?

According to the current version of Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry – IUPAC Recommendations and Preferred Names 2013 (Blue Book), the names of esters are generally formed by placing the alcoholic ...
Loong's user avatar
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FTIR Spectra: Did I synthesize ethyl gallate from gallic acid?

In determining whether you successfully synthesized ethyl gallate from your gallic acid precursor, let's go over what differences between the two you should expect in your spectra. Ethyl gallate (...
Melanie Shebel's user avatar
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Residual catalyst leaching from PETE

Let's ignore the safety aspect here, and focus on the 'if i bathe the jug in water so that all the antimony can leach into the water and wash the jug one more time, can all the antimony be removed ...
long's user avatar
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Can citric acid create a polyester?

The esterification of carboxylic acids with tertiary alcohols usually occurs by an SN1 mechanism wherein the oxygen of the alcohol is protonated and a tertiary carbocation is formed. It in turn reacts ...
user55119's user avatar
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Naming alkyl groups of an ester

You are going about naming them incorrectly, try breaking it into two parts: the conjugate base of a carboxylic acid and an alkyl group. $\hspace{5.9cm}$ Combining the two, we get: $\hspace{6.9cm}$ ...
ringo's user avatar
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Which electronic effects are responsible for the reduction of nucleophilicity of a hydroxy group orthogonal to an ester?

If we focus on the 2-oxo-3s-hydroxy-tetrahydrofuran the electronic effects present are the hyperconjugation and the dipole minimization. "Both effects contribute to the preferred (Z)-conformation of ...
Another.Chemist's user avatar
5 votes

selective hydrolysis problem

If you use methanol as a solvent and add a suitable base, you should end up with the correct product, since any MeOH attacking the protecting group you want to keep will simply re-form the methyl ...
NotEvans.'s user avatar
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Is the reaction between a carboxylic acid and alcohol endothermic?

When in doubt, go find data. Here is a typical such reaction - the esterification of ethanol and acetic acid to make ethyl acetate. $$\ce{CH3CH2OH + CH3CO2H -> CH3CO2CH2CH3 + H2O}$$ The following ...
Ben Norris's user avatar
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Retrosynthesis of a lactone

The first idea that comes to mind is an aldol, as you pointed out too: The only thing left to figure out is what aldol conditions to use to achieve enantioselectivity and the enantioselective ...
logical x 2's user avatar
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Hydrolysis under basic medium

Going by the mechanism of hydrolysis under basic medium, the lone pair of hydroxide ion will attack on C=O carbon. Due to the negative mesomeric (-M/-R) effect and negative inductive effect of the ...
Sidharth Giri's user avatar
5 votes

Naming ester as a substituent to carboxylic acid

As you have correctly stated in the question, the $\ce{-COOH}$ group has higher priority than the $\ce{-COOR}$ group. In fact, the $\ce{-COOH}$ group has the highest priority (excepting cations) in ...
William R. Ebenezer's user avatar
5 votes
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Nitration vs Nitrolysis

Tert-butyl esters are routinely cleaved by anhydrous acid conditions by loss of the tBu+ cation. TFA in DCM is a common system for this. Neat formic acid, HBr/AcOH and PTSA in refluxing benzene or ...
Waylander's user avatar
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Synthesis of diethyloxalate from ethene

Conversion 1 Convert ethene to ethanol. Ethene is mixed with steam and passed over a catalyst consisting of solid silicon dioxide coated with phosphoric(V) acid. The temperature used is 300 °C and ...
Nilay Ghosh's user avatar
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