Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Acetic acid and Ethanol from Ethyl Acetate

Slash - 9-3-2012 at 10:33

It's all pretty much in the title. I find my self in need of Ethanol and Acetic Acid and have access to Ethyl Acetate.

Am i crazy in thinking i could just buy the AcOEt, saponificate and distill off the EtOh ?

Or is there an azeotrope of some kind ?



[Edited on 9-3-2012 by ScienceSquirrel]

Adas - 9-3-2012 at 11:00

It is not really a saponification, but NaOH and EtOAc yields ethanol and NaOAc. The answer is YES!

Hexavalent - 9-3-2012 at 14:21

Slash . . .this video could be of use; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzgWq7Dtn3U

Slash - 15-3-2012 at 08:10

Thanks Hexavalent, just what i needed.

To think i'm already subscribed to this guy..

Hexavalent - 15-3-2012 at 08:44

Haha:)

The world is your oyster, you just have to find your way around. . . .yeah, that sounded better in my head!:)