ABSTRACT
Carboxylic acids were discussed in Sections 5.11.3 and 16.5. Carboxylic acids have the general structure RCO2H, with an OH group directly attached to a carbonyl, so the COOH group is taken as a unique functional group, the carboxyl group. e salient feature of carboxylic acids is the acidity of the proton in the O-H unit and carboxylic acids are the quintessential “organic acid.” e acidity of carboxylic acids will vary with the nature of R, the solvent, and the base it reacts with, but acid-base reactions eectively dominates the chemistry.
