Esters

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Introduction – Esters and their various effects on the human body
Esters are carboxylic acid groups that have a carbonyl acid adjacent to either linkage. Esters can be made from alcohols or carboxylic acids reactions. This is that they have a –COOH group however the hydrogen in the group instead is a methyl. Benzene ring, ethyl other alkyl group. Esters come in a number of different ways and have different effects on the human body both beneficiary and some toxic.
Esters are produced when carboxylic acids are boiled with alcohols with a catalyst which is usually sulphuric acid. A reaction to make esters is reversible and slow and the reactions are often characterised by the smell formed which is usually a sweet and ‘fruity’ aroma.
Physical properties
Small esters can be easily confused as they have similar boiling points to ketones, aldehyde with the same amount of carbon atoms attached. Esters are polar molecules with Van Der Waals forces and dipole-dipole bonds. An example of this would be the carboxylic acid Butanoic acid has a boiling point of 164OC where as the ester Ethyl acet...

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