Question

What happens when salicylic acid is treated with $(C{H}_{3}CO{)}_{2}O/H^{+}$? Write chemical equation in support of your answer.

Answer 1

When salicylic acid is treated with ${\left(C{H}_{3}CO\right)}_{2}O$ in presence of $H^{+}$ (acid), acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin) is produced.

The reaction is known as acetylation.

$\underset{\left(\text{Salicylic acid}\right)}{C_6{H}_4\left(COOH\right)\left(OH\right)}+{\left(C{H}_{3}CO\right)}_2\underset{-C{H}_{3}COOH}{\overset{H^{+}}{\to }}\underset{\left(\text{Acetylsalicylic acid}\right)}{C_6{H}_4\left(COOH\right)\left(OCOC{H}_3\right)}$