Carboxylate

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Carboxylate ion
Acrylate ion

A carboxylate is a salt or ester of a carboxylic acid. Carboxylate salts have the general formula M(RCOO)n, where M is a metal and n is 1,2,...; carboxylate esters have the general formula RCOOR'. R and R' are organic groups; R'≠H.

A carboxylate ion is the conjugate base of a carboxylic acid, RCOO−. It is an ion with negative charge.

Resonance stabilization of the carboxylate ion

Carboxylic acids easily dissociate into a carboxylate anion and a positively charged hydrogen ion (proton), much more readily than alcohols do (into an alkoxide ion and a proton), because the carboxylate ion is stabilized by resonance. The negative charge that is left after deprotonation of the carboxyl group is delocalized between the two electronegative oxygen atoms in a resonance structure.

This delocalization of the electron cloud means that either of the oxygen atoms is less strongly negatively charged; the positively charged proton is therefore less strongly attracted back to the carboxylate group once it has left. In contrast, an alkoxide ion, once formed, would have a strong negative charge on the oxygen atom, which would make it difficult for the proton to escape. Thus, the carboxylate ion is more stable and carboxylic acids have a lower pH than alcohols: the higher the number of protons in solution, the lower the pH.[1]

Uses

Polycarboxylate ethers serve as the main component of superplasticizers, admixtures used in the construction industry.

Examples

References

  1. ↑ Fox, Marye Anne; Whitesell, James K. (1997). Organic Chemistry (2 ed.). Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. ISBN 0-7637-0178-5. 

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