ABSTRACT
Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. 438
References .......................................................................................................................... 438
In nature, carboxylic acids are a ubiquitous class of organic compounds. They occur either as
free acids like acetic, pyruvic, or citric or masked in the forms of esters, anhydrides, lactones
amides, and lactams. Most free carboxylic acids occur as salts, leading to their chemical
stability and relatively high solubilities in water. Carboxylic acids and their derivatives are
often precursors for value-added chemicals for the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and food
industries. Methods to harness this pool of valuable precursors have led to the development
of several methods for chemical reductions and other manipulations of carboxylic acids.
