Question

Ethanol reacts with acetyl chloride to form:
(A) Acetic anhydride
(B) Acetic acid
(C) Ethyl chloride
(D) Ethyl acetate

Answer 1

Hint: The molecular formula of ethanol is $ {C_2}{H_5}OH $ . It has the functional group of alcohol. The molecular formula of acetyl chloride is $ C{H_3}COCl $ . The product formed will contain a carbonyl group.

Complete Step by step solution:
In organic chemistry, acetyl groups are represented by $ C{H_3}CO $ . Acetyl chloride is also called acyl chloride. Acetyl chloride is a colourless and volatile liquid. The prominent use of acetyl chloride is for introducing acetyl groups. In order to prepare esters and amides of acetic acid, acetyl chloride is used as a reagent.
Ethanol is an organic chemical compound which is also known as spirit, drinking alcohol and grain alcohol. It is a flammable, volatile and colourless liquid. Also, it has a slight characteristic odour. There are various ways to produce ethanol. Naturally, it is produced by fermentation of sugar by yeast or through petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration.
The reaction that takes places between ethanol and acetyl chloride is as follows,
 $ {C_2}{H_5}OH + C{H_3}COCl \to C{H_3}CO{C_2}{H_5} $
The reactants are ethyl alcohol and acetyl chloride respectively. The product obtained is ethyl acetate which is an ester. Hence this reaction is known as esterification. Esterification is the general name for the chemical reaction in which ester is formed as a product and the reactants generally used are acid and alcohol or acyl chloride and alcohol. Hence, the correct answer is ethyl acetate.
Therefore, the correct option is D.

Note:
Ethyl Acetate can also be prepared with ethanol and acetic acid. The other use of ethyl acetate is that it is used as a solvent for column and thin-layer chromatography.
 $ C{H_3}C{H_2}OH + C{H_3}COOH \to C{H_3}COOC{H_2}C{H_3} $