The following chemical reactants produce the ester ethyl ethanoate (C4H8O2) : C2H6O + CH3COOH What type of reaction occurs to make ethyl ethanoate?

Esterification reaction

Explanation:

An esterification reaction is an organic reaction involving an organic acid and an alkanol to give an ester or an ethanoate and water

Like the name suggests, an ester is the product formed in an esterification reaction alongside water. It is like a neutralization reaction but this time it solely contains organic molecules. These molecules react with each other to give rise to another organic molecule which is a member of a different homologous series.

Practically, to form ethyl ethanoate, ethanoic acid react with ethanol in the presence of concentrated sulphuric acid which catalyses the reaction.