Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic Acids

Carbonyl Group – Nomenclature and Structure

Nomenclature

In the IUPAC system, aliphatic carboxylic acids are named as follows:

• By replacing the ending ‘− e’ in the name of the corresponding alkane with ‘− oic acid’

• Carboxylic carbon is numbered one.

• If more than one carboxyl groups are present, then the ending ‘− e’ of the alkane is retained.

• The number of carboxyl groups is indicated by adding prefix, di, tri, etc. to the term ‘oic’.

The given table lists the common and IUPAC names and structures of some carboxylic acids.

Names and Structures of Some Carboxylic Acids

Structure	Common name	IUPAC name
HCOOH	Formic acid	Methanoic acid
CH3COOH	Acetic acid	Ethanoic acid
CH3CH2COOH	Propionic acid	Propanoic acid
CH3CH2CH2COOH	Butyric acid	Butanoic acid
(CH3)2CHCOOH	Isobutyric acid	2-Methylpropanoic acid
HOOC-COOH	Oxalic acid	Ethanedioic acid
HOOC −CH2-COOH	Malonic acid	Propanedioic acid
HOOC -(CH2)2-COOH	Succinic acid	Butanedioic acid
HOOC -(CH2)3-COOH	Glutaric acid	Pentanedioic acid
HOOC -(CH2)4-COOH	Adipic acid	Hexanedioic acid
HOOC -CH2-CH(COOH)-CH2-COOH	−	Propane-1, 2, 3- tricarboxylic acid
	Benzoic acid	Benzenecarboxylic acid (Benzoic acid)
	Phenylacetic acid	2-Phenylethanoic acid
	Phthalic a…