Carboxylic Acid

General Formula: CnH2n+1COOH, n = 0, 1, 2, …..

Functional Group:

Carboxyl

First 3 Members:

  1. Carboxylic Acids are weak acid.
  2. The functional group of carboxylic acids is carboxyl group.
  3. When dissolve in water, the carboxyl group will ionise to produce a hydrogen ion.

Naming Carboxylic Acids

  1. All carboxylic acid names end with the suffix ‘oic’. For example, methanoic acid, ethanoic acid, propanoic acid and butanoic acid.
  2. The carboxylic acid is named by replace the ending “ane” from the name of alkane with “anoic acid”.
  3. Unlike alcohol, the position of the functional group (the carboxyl group) need not be stated in the name of carboxylic acid.
Example
Number of Carbon Name of Alkane Name of Carboxylic Acid
1 methane methanoic acid
2 ethane ethanoic acid
3 propane propanoic acid
4 butane butanoic acid
5 pentane pentanoic acid
6 hexane hexanoic acid