Question

The lone pair of electrons on the oxygen atom in an ester can form hydrogen bonds in some situations, but esters cannot form hydrogen bonds with each other. How would you expect the boiling point of an ester to compare with that of an alcohol

Answer 1

Answer:

Esters have lower boiling point than alcohols.

Explanation:

Esters are the fruity smelling compounds which are formed from carboxylic acid and alcohol with the removal of water.

The general formula for the ester is RCOOR' which is prepared from RCOOH acid and R'OH alcohol.

Ester can not form strong hydrogen bond as there is no hydrogen attached to the electronegative atom in the ester and thus cannot form hydrogen bonds with each other. Due to this factor, the interactions within the molecules of the ester is lower than that of alcohols which exist in strong hydrogen bonding. As a result, ester can be easily boiled when compared to the alcohols and thus they have lower value of boiling points.