Ester compounds often have a sweet, pleasant odor. Many characteristic fruit scents are largely due to the natural presence of one or more ester compounds. As such, artificial scents for foods are often composed of complex mixtures of various esters. The exact identities and ratios of ingredients that compose particular scents are closely guarded secrets in the food and fragrance industry.

Suppose that you are a chemist working for a company that is creating a new line of air fresheners. The company is considering three scents: apple, pear, and pineapple. The project manager has asked you to prepare the ester compounds that are largely responsible for these scents. The carbon skeleton formulas for these ester compounds are shown in Figure a.

To prepare these esters, you have been given the alcohols listed in Table a and an adequate supply of all other necessary reagents, solvents, equipment, and the like.

Use the information provided in the figure and the table to answer the following questions:

a. Provide a name for each ester that you will prepare.

b. Draw the structure of each alcohol listed in Table A.

c. Determine the procedure you will use to prepare each ester, using the reactions found in this chapter. 

d. Calculate the cost to prepare 100.0 g of each ester. Which one will be the most expensive to prepare? Which ester will be the least expensive? (Consider only the cost of the alcohols in Table a and disregard the costs of other reagents. Assume 100% yield for all reactions.)

Transcribed Image Text:

Apple Pear CH3CH₂CH₂-CO- CH3 CH3 -C-0-CH₂ CH2 CH3 - - i Pineapple CH3 — CH₂ — CH₂ - C 0 CH₂ - CH3 A FIGURE A Structures of Ester Compounds Responsible for Various Fruit Scents