Cambridge O Level Chemistry · Syllabus 5070 · Organic Chemistry
Carboxylic Acid
What is Carboxylic Acid?
An organic compound containing the -COOH functional group, which behaves as an acid: it reacts with metals to give a salt and hydrogen, with bases to give a salt and water, and with carbonates to give a salt, water and carbon dioxide.
This definition is part of the Organic Chemistry chapter in Cambridge O Level Chemistry.
Carboxylic Acid in context
A homologous series is a family of organic compounds that share the same functional group and the same general formula, whose successive members differ by a -CH2- unit and show a gradual trend in physical properties with similar chemical properties. Alkanes (CnH2n+2) are saturated hydrocarbons with only single bonds and limited reactivity; alkenes (CnH2n) are unsaturated, containing a reactive C=C double bond; alcohols (CnH2n+1OH) contain -OH; and carboxylic acids (CnH2n+1COOH) contain -COOH and behave as acids. Substitution replaces one atom and displaces another; addition opens a double bond to form a single product; condensation polymerisation releases a small molecule at each linkage, while addition polymerisation releases nothing.
Questions students ask about Carboxylic Acid
How do you name and draw an ester from an alcohol and a carboxylic acid?
Take the alkyl name from the alcohol first, then the alkanoate name from the acid second, and never keep the word "acid" in the ester name. Ethanol and methanoic acid give ethyl methanoate, formed with an acid catalyst and containing the -COO- ester linkage, with water as the other product.