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Concentrated Sulphuric acid & 2-methylbutan-2-ol

Giving reaction conditions, write balanced equations for the following reactions. Name and draw the structure of all reactants and products.

I) methanoic acid and propan-2-ol
II) Concentrated sulphuric acid and 2-methylbutan-2-ol

Really stuck on these questions, any help appreciated.
i) ALCOHOLS can react with CARBOXYLIC ACIDS to give ESTERS, through a condensation reaction (loses one water molecule). It is normally catlysed by the presence of strong acid, like sulphuric acid.

Isopropanol (propan-2-ol) + methanoic acid --> isopropyl methanoate + H2O

There are 4 different examples of this kind of reaction here:
http://www.gcsescience.com/o51.htm

ii) A tertiary alcohol can react with strong acids to give an alkene, again by losing water (condensation):

There will be two or three possible products for this type of reaction, but the major product is always the most stable under the given reaction conditions.

For the reaction given, the major product will be the most substituted alkene, (i.e the alkene that has the most carbons attached to it.

H (from sulphuric acid) + 2-methylbutan-2-ol --> 2-methylbut-2-ene + H2O

There are related reactions here, with mechanisms, depending on how much you need to know:

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Organic_Chemistry/Hydrocarbons/Alkenes/Synthesis_of_Alkenes/Alkenes_by_Dehydration_of_Alcohols
Also, for drawing the structures, you can find each of them by typing the exact names in to google.
Drawing the structures really helps to understand which parts of the molecules are changed and lost during a reaction.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by C.Apple
Giving reaction conditions, write balanced equations for the following reactions. Name and draw the structure of all reactants and products.

I) methanoic acid and propan-2-ol
II) Concentrated sulphuric acid and 2-methylbutan-2-ol

Really stuck on these questions, any help appreciated.


First one is esterification, second is dehydration (elimination)

Look them up ...
This will help! http://lmgtfy.com/?q=methanoic+acid

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