• Highest C oxidation state in organics

  • End product of body’s alcohol degradation

• Weakly acidic but important buffers

• Reacts with alcohols to make highly flavourful Esters… a condensation (produces water) rxn

• Strong acids have higher ionization energy

• They contain the -COOH group as the functional group

• The ‘OOH’ must be written on the same carbon

• We’ll never see two carboxylic acids on the same chain

• Carboxylic acids are named with the ending ‘-oic acid’
• When counting the carbon chain, you must also include the carbon in the -COOH group
• That carbon chain is always though of as number 1 in that chain

Example:

• Butanoic Acid

NAMING ESTERS

• They come from alcohols and acids

• Name side without double bonded O first, then name side with the double bonded O

• The name of an Ester contains the names of:

  • The alkyl group from the alcohol
  • The carbon chain from the acid with ‘-ate’ ending

TEXTBOOK READING Pg. 58-66

Organic acids are characterized by the presence of a carboxyl functional group, COOH, and hence are called carboxylic acids. As with inorganic acids, carboxylic acids can react with compounds containing OH groups to form an organic “salt” called an ester.