Question

Draw the products of Claisen condensation of (a) ethyl propanoate; (b) ethyl-3-methylbutanoate; (c) ethyl pentanoate. For each, the base used is sodium ethoxide and the solvent is ethanol.

Answer 1

Answer:

Structures of products has been shown below

Explanation:

• In claisen condensation, two ester molecules combines with each other through nucleophilic acyl substitution resulting formation of a $\beta$-ketoester.
• At first, one ester molecule gets deprotonated in presence of a strong base e.g. NaOEt yielding a carbanion.
• The carbanion then gives nucleophilic acyl substitution reaction with another ester molecule to replace alkoxy group present in ester group
• General reaction mechanism of claisen condensation along with products of given esters are shown below.