Ester Nomenclature

The Acidic Environment‎ > ‎5. Esterification‎ > ‎

Identify the IUPAC nomenclature for describing the esters produced by reactions of straight-chained alkanoic acids from C1 to C8 and straight-chained primary alkanols from C1 to C8

  • Every ester has a unique two-word name.
  • When an ester is produced from an alkanol and an alkanoic acid, the nomenclature is as follows:
    • The alkanol reactant forms the first part of the name, with its suffix changing from “anol” to “yl”.
    • The alkanoic acid forms the second part of the name, with the word “acid” being omitted, and its suffix changing from “oic” to “oate”.
  • For example:
    • The ester produced from methanol and ethanoic acid is known as methyl ethanoate.
    • The ester produced from octanol and hexanoic acid is known as octyl hexanoate.
General formula of an ester