Esters are produced by the esterification of carboxylic acid with alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst. This process is essentially a condensation reaction in which a molecule of water is released along with the formation of the ester.
For example consider the reaction of acetic acid (CH3COOH) with methanol (CH3OH):
CH3COOH + HOCH3 → CH3COOCH3 + H2O
The product formed is acetoacetic ester along with a molecule of water.
The Rate of formation of products depends on the concentration of reactants or the forward reaction increases on increasing the rate of the concentration.
There is no effect on the equilibrium rate when the concentration of reactants and products is constant.
Forward reaction slows down when the reactant concentration is decreased.
On increasing the amount or concentration of reactant the chemical equilibrium shifts towards formation of more products.
