[Infiniti514]

Originally Posted by superdude

okay. Lets talk about the Fischer esterification mechanism in a general form.

First, lets take a generic example of this mecahnism.



Now, the first step involves protonation of the carbonyl oxygen, followed by the nucleophillic attack of the alcohol.




Then a loss and regain of a proton,



followed by loss of water as electrons from the alcohol oxygen kick down to form the double bond. Loss of a proton yields the ester.

So, in review:

man do I ever miss o-chem classes