Anhydrous MeOH in HCl ...

[skk]

Hey guys, I was wondering.. would HCl in anhydrous MeOH give esterification reaction (convert carboxylic acid to ester) or do we require aqueous conditions?
Thanks for any help!

[chemisttree]

It would but it would compete with the reaction of HCl with methanol to produce methyl chloride and water... which would slow the process of esterification. Usually you use a non-reactive acid, like sulfuric, in fisher esterifications. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Speier_esterification)