Chemistry question

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Specializes in Family Practice, Primary Care.

My friends want to know (and so do I) what is produced when you mix ethanol (C2H5OH) with citric acid (C6H8O7). I know it should produce H2O and salt, but I am trying to figure out what salt would be produced.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Cardiac.
My friends want to know (and so do I) what is produced when you mix ethanol (C2H5OH) with citric acid (C6H8O7). I know it should produce H2O and salt, but I am trying to figure out what salt would be produced.

Just wondering, who said that you'd get a salt and water? I'd have expected an organic reaction (esterification) that gives an ester and water rather than a typical acid-base reaction that gives salt and water.

I don't know what conditions would be required for esterification. Acid base rxns go instantly and give off heat, but esterification reactions can go more slowly or require heating and catalysts. I was looking up citric acid on wikipedia and it has 3 acid groups, so don't know if you can esterify all three of the groups.

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Specializes in Family Practice, Primary Care.

I am going off of my high school chemistry, heh. I haven't taken college chemistry because I don't have to for the accelerated BSN program I will be doing.

Since one is an acid and one is a base, I figured that's what would happen.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Cardiac.

Organic chemicals, the ones with carbon like citric acid and ethanol, don't always act like the inorganic chemicals from high school lab. The Ethanol has an -OH group like bases, but it's not a strong base (you can drink it after all).

When an alcohol (ethanol) reacts with an organic acid (citric acid) what you get is an ester (ethyl citrate) and water. I don't know what you have to do to get them to react. Some organic reactions go at room temp but a lot of them you have to heat up and add catalysts. It's been 30 years since I took organic chemistry and I was never that good at it.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
My friends want to know (and so do I) what is produced when you mix ethanol (C2H5OH) with citric acid (C6H8O7). I know it should produce H2O and salt, but I am trying to figure out what salt would be produced.

What are you doing, making screwdrivers and wondering what's going on? ;)

In this case, you're just going to have a slightly acidic solution of ethanol and citric acid.

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