Question

How do you calculate an equilibrium constant for n-propyl alcohol and acetic acid? I really need the step by step so that I can understand this. Thanks in advance and if you need further information for this please let me know I and I can get it.

Answer 1

CH₃CH₂CH₂OH + CH₃COOH CH₃COOCH₂CH₂CH₃ + H₂O

n-propyl alcohol     acetic acid       n-propyl acetate

• The reaction between n-propyl alcohol and acetic acid gives an ester as a product, hence it is an esterification reaction.
• The equilibrium constant for a reaction such as aA + bB cC +dD would be K_eq = [C]^c[D]^d/[A]^a[B]^b.
• The equilibrium constant for the given reaction would be:

K_eq = [CH₃COOCH₂CH₂CH₃][H₂O] / [CH₃CH₂CH₂OH][CH₃COOH]

• H₂O can be neglected later as it is a pure liquid and its concentration will not affect the equilibrium.
• If we know the concentrations of all the reactants and products, we can easily find the equilibrium constant following the above equation.