In my organic lab, we synthesized synthetic banana oil. I'm asked what gas escaped during the sodium bicarbonate washing and to write two reactions that took place during that operation. I know carbon dioxide escaped but I don't know how to write out the formulas.

Answer 1

The rxn for CO2 is
CH3COOH + NaHCO3 ==> H2CO3 + CH3COONa
Then H2CO3 --> H2O + CO2

You're getting rid of the excess CH3COOH.