Carboxylic acid

An organic compound containing a carboxyl group, –COOH, with a carbon atom bonded to both a hydroxyl group and an oxygen atom. Carboxylic acids can donate a proton from the hydroxyl group.

Carboxyl group: A functional group consisting of a carbonyl group and hydroxyl group attached to the same carbon atom. This is the defining structural unit shared by carboxylic acids.
Carbonyl group: A functional group consisting of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom. The carbonyl is one half of the carboxyl group’s defining arrangement.
Acetic acid: The two-carbon carboxylic acid, CH₃COOH, and the main acidic component of vinegar. It is a familiar small-molecule example and an industrial chemical feedstock.
Alcohol: An organic compound containing a hydroxyl group bonded to a saturated carbon atom. Both contain O–H bonds, but the adjacent carbonyl makes carboxylic acids much more acidic.
Carboxylate: An ion or salt containing the deprotonated carboxyl group, –COO−. Loss of the acidic proton converts a carboxylic acid into this resonance-stabilized form.
Hydroxyl group: A functional group consisting of an oxygen atom bonded to a hydrogen atom. Its O–H bond supplies the proton that carboxylic acids can donate.
Citric acid: A tricarboxylic acid found in citrus fruits and central to cellular metabolism. Its three carboxyl groups make it useful in foods and biological chemistry.
Phenol: An aromatic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bonded directly to an aromatic ring. Phenols also donate protons, but their acidity arises from a different conjugate-base structure.
Resonance: A model that represents molecular electronic structure through multiple contributing Lewis structures. Delocalization across the carboxylate group helps explain why its conjugate base is stable.
IUPAC nomenclature: The systematic rules for naming chemical compounds established by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Its suffix rules identify carboxylic acids in systematic names.

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