The esterification product of aminoacetic acid contains 13.6% nitrogen. What alcohol was taken
The esterification product of aminoacetic acid contains 13.6% nitrogen. What alcohol was taken for this esterification reaction?
Let’s write down the esterification reaction: H2N-CH2-COOH + R-OH -> H2N-CH2-COOR + H2O. R is an unknown substitute. Let us assume that this is a limiting substituent with the general formula CnH2n + 1. Then, the structural formula of the aminoacetic acid ester will look like this – H2N-CH2-COOCnH2n + 1 (the gross formula is Cn + 2 H2n + 5 O2 N, M = 14n + 75 g / mol). The mass fraction of element A in the complex compound AxBy is w (A) = [x * M (A)] / M (AxBy), where M is the molar mass of the element / substance, x and y are the indices for the corresponding elements. Applicable to this problem, w (N) = M (N) / M (Cn + 2 H2n + 5 O2 N) or 0.136 = 14 / (14n + 75), whence n = 2. So the desired radical is ethyl C2H5- and alcohol is ethyl C2H5OH.