Carboxylic acid Carboxylic acid A carboxylic acid is an organic compound that contains a carboxyl group (C(=O)OH). The general formula of a carboxylic acid is R–COOH, with R referring to the rest of the (possibly quite large) molecule. Carboxylic acids occur widely and include the amino acids (which make up proteins) and acetic acid (which is part of vinegar and occurs in metabolism). Salts and esters of carboxylic acids are called carboxylates. When a carboxyl group is deprotonated, its conjugate base forms a carboxylate anion. Carboxylate ions are resonance-stabilized, and this increased stability makes carboxylic acids more acidic than alcohols, along with
Organic compound substance in Martian soil. Terrestrially, it, and its anhydride, mellitic anhydride, are associated with the mineral mellite (AlC(COO)·16HO). A slightly broader definition of organic compound includes all compounds bearing C-H or C-C bonds. This would still exclude urea. Moreover, this definition still leads to somewhat arbitrary divisions in sets of carbon-halogen compounds. For example, CF and CCl would be considered by this rule to be "inorganic", whereas CFH and CHCl would be organic, though these compounds share many physical and chemical properties. Organic compounds may be classified in a variety of ways. One major distinction is between natural and synthetic