Ethyl acetate and tea leaves are decaffeinated with this solvent. It is also used in paints as an activator or hardener. Ethyl acetate is present in confectionery, perfumes, and fruits. In perfumes, it evaporates quickly, leaving only the scent of the perfume on the skin. In the laboratory, mixtures containing ethyl acetate are commonly used in column chromatography and extractions. Ethyl acetate is rarely selected as a reaction solvent because it is prone to hydrolysis and transesterification. Ethyl acetate is fairly volatile at room temperature and has a boiling point of . Due to these properties, it can be removed from a
Ethyl acetoacetate a bidentate ligand. For example, it forms purple coordination complexes with iron(III) salts: Ethyl acetoacetate can also be reduced to ethyl 3-hydroxybutyrate. Ethyl acetoacetate, when heated alone (uncatalyzed) with benzyl alcohol, forms synthetically useful benzyl acetoacetate (benzyl groups being easily removed later by catalytic hydrogenolysis over Pd/C under neutral conditions), via a mechanism involving acetylketene. Ethyl (and other) acetoacetates nitrosate readily with equimolar sodium nitrite in acetic acid, to afford the corresponding oximinoacetoacetate esters. A dissolving-zinc reduction of these in acetic acid in the presence of ketoesters or beta-diketones constitute the Knorr synthesis of pyrroles, useful for porphyrin synthesis. Ethyl