Carboxylic Acids

Carboxylic acids are organic acids characterized by the presence of a carboxyl group, The simplest series of carboxylic acids are the alkanoic acids, R-COOH, where R is a hydrogen or an alkyl group. Compounds may also have two or more carboxylic acid groups per molecule.

Carboxylic acids are typically weak acids that only partially ionize in water. For example, acetic acid is only 0.02% dissociated in aqueous solution at room temperature.

Salts and anions of carboxylic acids are called carboxylates.