Is esterification exothermic or endothermic

Answer 1

endothermic reaction. because as you may have seen, high temperatures are required to speed up the reaction. this is because, since the reaction in endothermic, high temperatures would cause the equilibrium to shift forward to decrease the temperature thus leading to the formation of more esters thereby speeding up the reaction (le chatelier's principle).

Answer 2

Esterification is typically considered exothermic because when an alcohol and a carboxylic acid react to form an ester and water, heat is usually given off as a byproduct.