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Chemistry · Glossary

What is Carboxylic acid, ester?

Also known as: carboxylic acid · ester

Definition 33.4 School Chemistry — Grades 1 to 12 · Chapter 33 — Functional Groups and Families

A carboxylic acid has a carboxyl group −COOH\ce{-COOH}, a carbonyl and a hydroxyl on the same carbon atom. An ester has the group −COO−\ce{-COO-} between two carbon chains: it is related to an acid, whose −OH\ce{-OH} has been replaced by an −O−\ce{-O-}R′' coming from an alcohol.

Naming an ester: the alcohol part gives an alkyl name (ethyl), the acid part an ending in -oate (ethanoate); the name is “ethyl ethanoate”.
Naming an ester: the alcohol part gives an alkyl name (ethyl), the acid part an ending in -oate (ethanoate); the name is “ethyl ethanoate”.

Examples

Example 33.5 (Ethyl ethanoate)

The solvent ethyl ethanoate, CHX3−COO−CHX2−CHX3\ce{CH3-COO-CH2-CH3}, smells of pear drops and nail-varnish remover. Its “acid part”, CHX3−CO\ce{CH3-CO}, comes from ethanoic acid CHX3−COOH\ce{CH3-COOH} and gives the second word of the name, ethanoate; its “alcohol part”, O−CHX2−CHX3\ce{O-CH2-CH3}, comes from ethanol CHX3−CHX2−OH\ce{CH3-CH2-OH} and gives the first word, ethyl. A later chapter shows how an ester is made from its acid and its alcohol.

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