Making esters from alcohols and acyl chlorides. Esters can also be made from the reactions between alcohols and either acyl chlorides (acid chlorides) or acid anhydrides.If you add an acyl chloride to an alcohol, you get a vigorous (even violent) reaction

To make a small ester like ethyl ethanoate, you can gently heat a mixture of ethanoic acid and ethanol in the presence of concentrated sulphuric acid, and distil off the ester as soon as it is formed. This prevents the reverse reaction happening. It works

Making esters is a relatively easy chemistry experiment that you can do in a classroom or lab with the right chemistry supplies. Mix different acids and alcohols, then heat them up in water to form an ester. Try different combinations of...