Ethyl lactate is also used as solvent for nitrocellulose, cellulose acetate, and cellulose ethers. Ethyl lactate hydrolyzes in the presence of water and acids or bases into lactic acid and ethanol. Ethyl lactate can be used as a cosolvent to produce suitable conditions for the formation of aryl aldimines. Ethyl lactate Ethyl lactate, also known as lactic acid ethyl ester, is a monobasic ester formed from lactic acid and ethanol, commonly used as a solvent. This compound is considered biodegradable and can be used as a water-rinsible degreaser. Ethyl lactate is found naturally in small quantities in a wide variety of foods
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