General

How are carboxylic acids named?

Carboxylic acids are in the alkanoic acid family, and the identifying suffix - ``-oic acid" is derived from this family designation.

1. The carbonyl group in the alkanoic acid family will always be positioned at the end of a carbon chain, i.e. at the ``1'' position. For this reason, the ``1'' is omitted from naming.
2. The suffix ``-oic acid'' replaces the terminal ``-e'' of the alkane name.
3. The dissociated form of carboxylic acids, $R-COO^{Ð}$, has a suffix which changes from ``-oic acid'' to ``-ate,'' e.g. ethanoic acid (acetic acid) becomes an acetate ion.

Figure 50.2: Examples of carboxylic acids: (a) Methanoic acid (formic acid), (b) ethanoic acid (acetic acid), (c) propanoic acid, (d) 2-chloropentanoic acid, and (e) hexadionic acid.