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COR! who am I to know all this stuff!? yet ANOTHER question has just been put to me!!!!... do I remember doing an experiment that changes esters into bubble gum?!

Not that I remember... but hey, I will do all due diligence & ask the Chemtalk community if there is such an experiment.

My feeling is that they have mistaken the smell of the ester(eg grape), for one that theyve smelled & tasted in bubble gum. Any ideas?

from 'the presumed resident genius of the prep room'!

Hi rainbow-sky,

Esterification or the, preparation of Esters require a reaction between Carboxylic Acids and Alkanols.

These mixtures in the presence of a Catalyst (H[sub]2[/sub]SO[sub]4[/sub]) will yield and Ester.

From this there cannot be any way to make bubble gum from an Ester as:

1. the H[sub]2[/sub]S0[sub]4[/sub] Catalyst is too acidic

2. Gum Arabic is the gum base used in the manufacturing process of bubble gum and this could not be repeated in an Esterification process.

Other than that, a Gum Base could be used with the addition of the desired Ester to give "flavoured Bubble Gum".

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Robb.....

Thank you Robb. I seemed such an 'out there' question, and I am really glad thats the answer.