Originally posted by Antwain
My guess would be water, since I believe that NaOH is rather insoluble in EtOH, unlike KOH. To a good approximation, there will be no alkoxide in a
solution containing water. That includes KOH in ethanol I would assume. The equalibrium EtO- + H2O <==> EtOH + OH- is just so far to the right.
The only way to make significant alkoxide is with alkali metal + alcohol. |