Carboxylic acids and derivatives (A Level)

You will be able to

• Describe and explain the relative acidities of carboxylic acids, phenol, water and alcohols in terms of the stability of the anion.
• Describe and explain the relative acidities of chlorine-substituted carboxylic acids, including the effect of the number of chlorine atoms and their distance from the COOH group.
• Predict the result of testing a carboxylic acid, phenol and an alcohol with Na2CO3(aq) and NaOH(aq).

You will be able to

• State the reagents that convert a carboxylic acid into an acyl chloride, and write the equation.
• Predict the product and the by-product of the reaction of an acyl chloride with water, an alcohol, phenol, ammonia or an amine.
• Describe the addition–elimination mechanism of an acyl chloride with a nucleophile, using curly arrows from lone pairs and bonds.