[nana_prun]

hello..
i need a lil help regarding the hydrolysis of ester..
 i am about to do an experiment regarding hydrolysis of ester..
and..
 i'll be using 2 types of catalyst which is acid( ascorbic acid) from the pineapple juices and base (maybe form the baking soda)
the ester would be the from saturated and unsaturated oil...
so...
i've been thinking of how to collect the quantitative data..
what would be the dependent and independent variable..
i mean the most appropriate...
because i would be carry out this experiment in the lab.. and is it okay???
i just dont know and always get confuse when most of article in the website mention of the reversible reaction of it including the saponification and so on..
i hope someone would give me a clue on how to work this thing out..

[Donphil07]

In organic chemistry, almost is reverble reaction. dont worry! this is easy reation. and i think synthesis ester is difficult

[Yggdrasil]

I don't think acetic acid will be strong enough to hydrolyze most esters.  Also, for a base, you'd want a base that releases OH^- ions into solution as these ions are the ones that are the reactants in the hydrolysis reaction.

[HP]

By using aqueous ammonia (NH3.H2O) as source of -:OH you can do the ester hydrolysis in big excess of the used base. The excess of ammonia can be removed by just continious boiling the mixture untill no ammonia smell or pH close to neutral.. If later you want to obtain the free carboxylic acid its possible to pass the ammonia salt true acidic ion-exchange column. Something usefull in practice is the neutralization of the hydrocloride salts of the amino acids by aq ammonia - interestingly the product of this reaction is the free betaine form of the amino acid but not the COONH4 salt..
Good luck!