We saw in the previous section on carboxylic acids that we can make substances known as "esters" from carboxylic acids and alcohols. These are made in acidic conditions according to the following generalised equation:



We can also represent this generalisation using the now familiar (hopefully anyway) R and R' terminology for the alkyl groups making up the base names of the acid and alcohol respectively.




What are the Uses of Esters?

An ester is a sweet smelling substance, some esters are used as food flavourings (for example in pear drop sweets) and other esters are used as fragrances or perfumes. Esters can be made into polymers called polyesters.

Polyesters can be used to make plastic bottles or polyesters can be made into fibres to make clothing. Recycled polyesters are used to make fleece clothing.


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