Ethyl sulfate

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Sulfovinic acid
Sulfovinic acid
IUPAC name ethyl hydrogen sulfate
Identifiers
CAS number
SMILES OS(=O)(=O)OCC
Properties
Molecular formula C2H6O4S
Molar mass 126.13 g/mol
Density 1.46 g/cm³
Melting point

unknown °C

Boiling point

unknown °C

Except where noted otherwise, data are given for
materials in their standard state
(at 25 °C, 100 kPa)

Infobox disclaimer and references

Ethyl sulfate, also known as sulfovinic acid, is an organic chemical compound used as intermediate in the production of ethanol from ethylene.

[edit] History

This substance was studied alongside ether for the first time by German alchemist August Siegmund Frobenius in 1730, subsequently by French chemists Fourcroy and Gay-Lussac in 1815. Swedish scientist Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure also studied it in 1807. Later French pharmacist Polydore Boullay discovered, sulfuric acid could produce large amounts of ether and water via a continuous process. Further studies by German and Swedish chemists Alexander Mitscherlich and Jöns Berzelius suggested sulfuric acid was acting as a catalyst, this eventually led discovery of Sulfovinic acid. The advent of electrochemistry by Italian physicist Alessandro Volta and English chemist Humphry Davy in the 1800s confirmed ether and water were formed by the action of sub-stoichiometric amounts of sulfuric acid and that sulfovinic acid was formed as an intermediate in the reaction.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Ethy sulfate. Sulfovinic acid. Retrieved on September 7, 2005.
  • History of Ether. The Composition and Structure of Ether. Retrieved on September 7, 2005.