Organic chemistry · reaction model

Esterification

Choose an alcohol and a carboxylic acid. The reaction then plays through as a continuous animation: the reactants approach, the ester bond forms, and water is released.

Alcohol

Carboxylic acid

Overall reaction

carboxylic acid + alcohol ⇌ ester + water

Ready. Select the reactants, then run the complete reaction.

Stage: reactants

What the animation shows: this is the overall condensation reaction. The acid –OH and the hydrogen from the alcohol are grouped into H₂O, while the alcohol oxygen becomes the oxygen linking the alkyl group to the acyl group in the ester. The real acid-catalysed Fischer esterification proceeds through several proton-transfer steps and is reversible; this model focuses on the atom-level net change rather than claiming a single-step mechanism.

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