Starting materials: Thionyl chloride, Propionic acid, Magnesium sulfate, Sodium carbonate, n-amy alcohol, sodium carbonate
1. How do you determine the molar ratio of thionyl choloride to propioic acid (Like what numbers and formula do I need?)
2. What are some of the by products formed in this experiment?
3. Why do you wash the ether layer with sodium carbonate?
4. Why is this experiment more expensive than the Fisher esterfication process? When is this method perferred?