Give the systematic names of the alkanol and the carboxylic acid that are required to synthesise propyl propanoate - VCE - SSCE Chemistry - Question 4 - 2012 - Paper 1

The balanced chemical equation for the synthesis of propyl propanoate can be represented as follows:

1. Start with a pure sample of 1-propanol.
2. Combine 1-propanol with propanoic acid in a round-bottom flask.
3. Add a few drops of concentrated sulfuric acid as a catalyst to facilitate the esterification reaction.
4. Heat the mixture under reflux for about an hour.
5. After the reaction is complete, allow the mixture to cool and then perform a fractional distillation to separate the pure propyl propanoate from the reaction mixture.
6. Collect the distilled propyl propanoate in a clean container.

One method to verify the purity of propyl propanoate is to perform infrared (IR) spectroscopy. An IR spectrum comparison can reveal characteristic absorption peaks at around 1740 cm⁻¹ for the carbonyl (C=O) of the ester functional group. If the spectrum also shows the absence of extra peaks that may indicate impurities, we can conclude that the product is pure propyl propanoate.