[iamash]

Hey! I was wondering how Ascorbic acid reacted with Isopentanol and (in a seperate reaction) with Butanol. We used sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as a catalyst.

All the other acids that were in my lab reacted fairly obviously and produced water and an ester (e.g. Ethanoic acid + Ethanol = water and Ethyl Ethanoate). If you could tell me which ester was produced, that'd be great!
Thanks!
Ash

[magician4]

If you could tell me which ester was produced, that'd be great!

none whatsoever: ascorbic acid is not a carbonic acid, and hence will form no esters  (except that ascorbic acid already is an ester in its own right)

maybe you might achieve some trans-esterification instead, but I doubt that , as the usual reactions of ascorbic acid are more complex and counter-intuitive than that
an overview of the chemistry of ascorbic acid you'll find here



regards

Ingo

[iamash]

Thanks!