Preparation of synthetic banana oil

Purpose of experiment
The purpose of the experiment was to synthesize banana oil known by several chemical names such as isopentyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, and ethanoate using isopentyl alcohol and acetic acid.


Method and procedure
A 20.0mmole of isopentyl alcohol was added to a 5-ml conical vial. About 40mmole of galactic acid was added to the solution, and carefully stirred as six drops of concentrated sulfuric acid was then added. Then the solution was heat under a gentle reflux with a water-cooled condenser for one hour. The solution is then monitored as it reflux and the heat applied to it was reduced from time to time as the reflux rose to about 2cm of the top of the condenser.
After heating, the reaction was cooled to nearly room temperature. Then it was transferred to a screw-cap centrifuge tube with the aid of 6ml of water. The reaction was washed with water, and then the aqueous layer was removed. The organic layer, which was left in the centrifuge tube, was then washed with two portion of about 3ml of 5% aqueous sodium bicarbonate in order to help eliminate the water content. Then the aqueous layer was removed after each washing.
The product, crude isopentyl acetate, was dried with a small amount of anhydrous sodium sulfate. The capped tube was shake vigorously, and let to stand for ten minutes. The sodium sulfates absorbed the water content and formed crystals at the bottom. The liquid was then transferred to a pre-weighed beaker, leaving the anhydrous sodium sulfate in the vial. The obtained product was then weighed and recorded.
Result
The final weight obtained of the product is 1.77g . Because the reactant, both have one to one mole ratio, the theoretical weight predicted from the reaction was
Therefore, the percentage yield of the product is as follows:


Discussion
The final the product obtained was , but the weight was about 68.0% of the theoretical yield which indicated that there might have been a few errors in the experiment. Because the procedure required circumspect handling while synthesizing , the sources of the errors that caused the discrepancy may have been from washing and drying the product. A few part of the organic layer might have been removed in the process of removing the aqueous layer, water or sodium bicarbonate. Another area would have been at the time of drying the product. Too much anhydrous sodium sulfate might have been added because the procedure was not specific as to what quantity should be added.

Conclusion
Isopentyl acetate, the product, was achieved through the method implemented in this experiment. With the use of isopentyl alcohol and acetic acid under the reaction method help to obtain the predicted product. One way this experiment could be developed is to specific precise amount of each compound need to be used in the reaction in order to obtain a better yield of the product.