Reading a scheme

Start with the conditions. A strong base, an acid, a metal, a peroxide: the reagent line narrows the reaction type before you look at a single bond.
Find what changed. Compare starting material and product atom by atom: which bond formed, which left, and whether the carbon count grew.
Substitution vs. elimination vs. addition is a bookkeeping question: same number of σ bonds, fewer, or more.
Mechanism follows structure. A tertiary or benzylic center with a weak nucleophile points to a cation; a primary center with a strong nucleophile does not.
Every example here is a real reaction with a real citation. The yields are the authors’ own.

Esters from acid chlorides and anhydrides

4 real reactions from the literature, on tertiary alcohols, benzylic alcohols, acid chlorides and 1,2-diols. Each scheme shows starting materials, conditions and products, with the yield and reference where the source reports them.

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Ester from acid chloride: tert-butanol (a tertiary alcohol) and acetyl chloride (an acid chloride) with CH3CH2OCH2CH3, Δ gives tert-butyl acetate (the ester).

Ester from acid chlorideOrg. Synth. Coll. Vol. 3, p. 142
Ester from acid chloride: benzoin (a benzylic alcohol) with Ac2O; AcOH, H2SO4 gives benzoin acetate (the ester).

Ester from acid chlorideOrg. Synth. Coll. Vol. 2, p. 69
Ester from acid chloride: 4-methylbenzoyl chloride (an acid chloride) with (CH3)3COLi gives 1,1-dimethylethyl 4-methylbenzoate (the ester).

Ester from acid chlorideOrg. Synth. Coll. Vol. 6, p. 259
Ester from acid chloride: a 1,2-diol with acetyl chloride gives the ester.

Ester from acid chlorideOrg. Synth. Coll. Vol. 5, p. 1