Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

6 Carboxylic Acids

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 7

IAL Chemistry Ms.

Pabasari Goonetilleke
Unit 4
Organic Chemistry; carbonyls, carboxylic acids and chirality

Carboxylic Acids

• Carboxylic acids contains COOH group


• They are only ………………………… in water which slightly dissociate, but they are strong enough to
displace carbon dioxide from carbonates.

• These have the ending …………………… but no number is necessary for the acid group as it must always
be at the end of the chain
• The numbering always starts from the carboxylic acid end
• If there are carboxylic acid groups on both ends of the chain then it is called a - dioic acid

pentanoic acid
………………………………………

………………………………………

………………………………………
Bonding
• Carboxylic acids contain the C=O bond and the single bonds in
alcohol – Polar bonds
• Many reactions of carboxylic acids involve loss of the hydrogen
atom as H+ and form carboxylate ion (COO-)
• The carboxylic acid salts are stabilised by delocalisation, which makes the dissociation more likely.
• The delocalised ion has equal C-O bond lengths
• If delocalisation did not occur, the C=O bond would
be shorter than the C-O bond. The pi charge cloud has
delocalised and spread out. The delocalisation makes the
ion more stable and therefore more likely to form.

Strength of carboxylic acids


Physical Properties
Carboxylic acids have distinctive smells and sour tases
Examples:
• Butanoic acid is responsible for the smell of stale sweat
• Hexanoic acid for the smell of goats
• Citric acid for sour taste of lemons

Boiling Temperature

• The presence of three polar bonds including a polar O-H


…….…………………………………………………………………………………..
gives rise to hydrogen bonds - so the boiling points are
………………………………………………………………………………………….
higher compared with organic compounds with a similar molar mass
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Londin forces between the non-polar hydrocarbon chain
• …….…………………………………………………………………………………..
length. Boiling temperature increases with the increasing of
……………………………………………………………………………………….
molar mass
………………………………………………………………………………………….

carbon chains increases so there is


more London forces
Hydrogen bonding shorter chain carboxylic acids give rise to dimers

Solubility in Water
• The smaller carboxylic (up to C4) acids dissolve in water in all proportions
but after this the solubility rapidly reduces with increasing chain length.
• They dissolve because they can hydrogen bond to the water molecules
Methods of preparing carboxylic acids
• Oxidation Reactions
• Primary alcohols
• Aldehydes carboxylic acids formation

• Hydrolysis

• CN bond breaks


• C atoms remains as a part of the organic product
• N atom becomes ammonia or ammonium ion

Oxidation of Primary Alcohols

Reaction: primary alcohol → carboxylic acid


potassium dichromate(VI) solution and dilute sulphuric acid
Reagent: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Conditions: use an excess of dichromate, and heat under reflux: (distill off product after the reaction has
finished)
the orange dichromate ion (Cr2O72-) reduces to green Cr 3+ ion
Observation: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

H-C-C-C-

Oxidation of Aldehydes
Reaction: aldehyde →carboxylic acid
Potassium dichromate (VI) solution and dilute sulphuric acid
Reagent: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Conditions: heat under reflux
Full Equation for oxidation
1. Hydrolysis of Nitriles
Reaction: Nitrile → carboxylic acid
dilute hydrochloric acid/ sulphuric acid or aqueous alkali
Reagent: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Conditions: heat under reflux

Acidic hydrolysis ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..


Alkaline hydrolysis ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
The product is butanoate ion which is easily converted to butanoic acid by adding dilute acid
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Reactions of Carboxylic Acids

1. Reduction

Reaction: carboxylic acid → primary alcohol


LiAIH4 (Lithium tetrahydridoaluminate) in dry ether
Reagents: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Conditions: Room temperature and pressure
Type of reaction: Reduction
Role of reagent: Reducing agent
Carboxylic acids cannot be reduced to aldehydes
since any aldehyde formed will be immediately
reduced to a primary alcohol
2. Neutralization
Carboxylic acids can be completely neutralized by reacting with aqueous alkali

Carboxylate salts are ionic which are often shown with the formulae such as CH 3COO- Na+
General formula: RCOONa

Carboxylic acids can form salts with metals, alkalis and carbonates

salit+hydrogen

salt+water

salt+water+CO2

The effervescence caused by production of CO2 with carboxylic acids with solid Na2CO3 or aqueous
NaHCO3 can be used as a functional group test for carboxylic acids

3. Halagenation
Reaction: carboxylic acid → acyl chloride
Reagent: ……………………………………………………………..
PCl5 phosphorous(V) chloride

Conditions: room temp and anhydrous conditions (both reagent and acyl chloride react with water).
Since the reaction is vigorous no heat is needed.
This reaction with PCl5 (phosphorous(v)chloride) can be used as a test for carboxylic acids.
misty fumes of HCL
You would observe ……………………………………………… produced.
hydrogen chloride

POCl3 is a liquid that mixes with


…………… + ………………. + ………….. the acyl chloride which should be
therefore separated by fractional
distillation HCl gas produced
appear as misty fumes

Ethanoyl Phosphorous
chloride trichloride oxide
4. Esterification
Carboxylic acids react with alcohols, in the presence of a strong acid (often conc. sulfuric acid) catalyst,
to form esters and water.

Ester water

Naming of ester includes two parts


First – alkyl group from alcohol
Second – carboxylate from carboxylic acid

5. Oxidation of methanoic acid


Carboxylic acids cannot be oxidised by using oxidising agents but methanoic acid is an exception as its
structure has effectively an aldehyde group
It forms carbonic acid (H2CO3) which can
decompose to give CO2

You might also like