Reactions of Carboxylic Acids (Edexcel IGCSE Chemistry)
Revision Note
Author
StewartExpertise
Chemistry Lead
Reactions of Carboxylic Acids
- The carboxylic acids behave like other acids
- They react with metals to form a salt and hydrogen and with carbonates to form a salt, water and carbon dioxide gas
- They take part in neutralisation reactions to produce salt and water
- Ethanoic acid (also called acetic acid) is the acid used to make vinegar, which contains around 5% by volume ethanoic acid
- The salts formed by the reaction of carboxylic acids all end –anoate
- So methanoic acid forms a salt called methanoate, ethanoic a salt called ethanoate etc
- In the reaction with metals, a metal salt and hydrogen gas are produced
- For example in the reaction of ethanoic acid with magnesium, the salt magnesium ethanoate is formed:
2CH3COOH + Mg → (CH3COO)2Mg + H2
- In the reaction with hydroxides a salt and water are formed in a neutralisation reaction
- For example in reaction with potassium hydroxide the salt potassium propanoate is formed by reaction with propanoic acid:
CH3CH2COOH + KOH → CH3CH2COOK + H2O
- In the reaction with carbonates a metal salt, water and carbon dioxide gas are produced
- For example in reaction with potassium carbonate the salt potassium butanoate is formed by reaction with butanoic acid:
2CH3CH2CH2COOH + K2CO3 → 2CH3CH2CH2COOK + H2O + CO2
Exam Tip
You are not expected to be able to write balanced equations for the reactions of carboxylic acids- they are included here for background information.
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