The general form of Fischer esterification mechanism is as follows: The first step involves protonation of the carbonyl oxygen, followed by the nucleophillic attack of the alcohol. Esterification is a chemical reaction that occurs between the acid (usually carboxylic acid) and the alcohol (or compounds containing the hydroxyl group) where esters are obtained. The reaction was first described by Emil Fischer and Arthur Speier in 1895. In the first step, the electrophilic carbonyl group is activated by protonation of the C=O oxygen, thus making it more reactive towards the nucleophilic attack of the alcohol: This is because the ester formed is the equatorial position, which makes the compound more stable than cis-4-tert-butylcyclohexanol. Nucleophilic attack of the alcohol gives a tetrahedral intermediate in which there are two equivalent hydroxyl groups. The mechanism of Fischer Esterification is an example of nucleophilic addition-elimination and the overall result of it is the replacement of the OH group by the OR. In the first step, the ethanoic acid takes a proton (a hydrogen ion) from the concentrated sulphuric … Then a loss and regain of a proton, followed by loss of water as electrons from the alcohol oxygen kick … : p -TsOH, H 2 SO 4) or a Lewis acid leads to a more reactive electrophile. Fischer esterification or Fischer–Speier esterification is a special type of esterification by refluxing a carboxylic acid and an alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst. The major product that was formed from the Fischer Esterification of isopentyl alcohol and acetic acid was isopentyl acetate. The Fischer esterification Mechanism can simply be described as – Protonation of the carbonyl, followed by the nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl, the proton transfer to the OH group, the removal of water and finally the deprotonation step. Mechanism The overall reaction is reversible; to drive the reaction to completion, it is necessary to exploit Le Châteliers principle, which can be done either by continuously removing the water formed from the system or by using a large excess of the … Most carboxylic acids are suitable for the reaction, but the alcohol should generally be primary or secondary. Mechanism of the Fischer Esterification Addition of a proton (e.g. The reaction takes place in acidic environments. Mechanism of the Acid Catalyzed Fischer Esterification The Fischer esterification is an equilibrium process. In this process, water is also obtained. Energetically, the products have nearly identical stability to the starting materials and there is no significant driving force for the reaction. It, therefore, falls into the category of “ condensation reactions “.