DISCUSSION

Carboxylic acid is one of the homologous series of organic compounds which has
carboxyl group (COOH) as a functional group. Functional group of a homologous series is
defined as a group of atoms where it plays a vital role in defining the structure of a family
compounds, as well as the properties of the compounds. In this case, carboxyl group consists
a carbonyl group (C=O) with a hydroxy group (O-H) attached to same carbon atom.
Scientifically speaking, carboxylic acid can be classified into an ester, an acid chloride, an
amide as well as a thioester. These classification are known as the derivatives of carboxylic
acid.

Based on experiment conducted in part A, the solubility of carboxylic acids shows that
each of the carboxylic acid derivatives illustrate different solubility when reacted with different
subtances. The subtances used in this experiment are 3 mL of ether, 3 mL of distilled water
and 3 mL of 2.5 M of sodium hydroxide, NaOH. The results shows that when undiluted form
of acetic acid or commonly known as the glacial acetic acid (CH3COOH) reacted with ether

(C2H5)2O, it yielded to homogenous solution where the glacial acetic acid dissolved in ether.

In addition to this, when glacial acetic acid was reacted with NaOH solution, it can be
scrutinized that glacial acid is soluble and formed bubble gas when mixed with NaOH solution.
However, the reaction between glacial acetic acid and distilled water opposed the observation
where the glacial acetic acid does not dissolve (insoluble) in distilled water. The reason behind
this solubility of carboxylic acid in water is affected bby the molecular weight of a molecule.
Thus, when the molecular weight increases, the solubility of carboxylic acid will decrease.

Benzoic acid with its structure C₇H₆O₂ is a simple aromatic carboxylic acid. The result
shows that benzoic acid is soluble in ether and in NaOH, but insoluble in distilled water. The
reason why benzoic acid can dissolve in NaOH solution is NaOH is a strong base thus
deprotonating easily occur causing the production of salt, known as sodium benzoate with its
chemical formula NaC₇H₅O. The alternation of salt causes benzoic acid to dematerialize quickly
as salt is perfectly capable to dissolve in water. Since ether is less dense compared to water,
thus benzoic acid is more soluble in ether. The second reason that explains the insoluble
properties of benzoic acid when mixed with distilled water is because the presence of the non-
polar molecule in the bulk of benzoic acid molecule (the benzene ring). From benzoic acid
structure, it shows that only the carboxyl group expressed the polar side of benzoic acid.
Although water is polar molecule and can form hydrogen bonds with the carboxyl group, the
presence of benzene ring causes the benzene ring to from Van Der Waals forces of attraction,
a force which is weaker compared to hydrogen bonding where it gives an impact to benzoic
acid to become insoluble in distilled water. Stearic acid with its chemical structure of
CH3(CH2)16COOH, also called octadecanoic acid is a saturated fatty acid with an 18-carbon
chain. Stearic acid is a monobasic saturated aliphatic carboxylic acid and it is considered as
one of the most common higher fatty acids in nature. Based on the result, stearic acid is
soluble when mixed with ether. On the other hand, stearic acid become slightly soluble and
fully insoluble when mixed with distilled water and NaOH solution respectively. The reason
behind this is because of the 18 carbons in stearic acid causing it to become insoluble in water.

In experiment part (B) where hydrolysis of acid chloride was carried out, the
temperature was observed when 5 mL of water was mixed with acetyl chloride in a fume
cupboard. Based on the result, the temperature of reaction was recorded at 26°C. When the
reaction completed, the litmus paper change its colour from blue to red when it was tested in
the solution. This is because acetyl chloride reacts vigorously with water, which produce heat
and acid chloride. The acidity of acid chloride in the solution changes the blue litmus paper to
red litmus paper. However, when 1 mL of silver nitrate, AgNO3 is added into the solution,
white precipitate is formed inside the beaker. The formation of precipitate inside the beaker
is the insoluble solid that forms during chemical reaction and separates out in the solution.
The reaction of silver nitrate and acid chloride are shown in the equation below :

AgNO3 (aq) + HCl (aq) AgCl(s) + HNO3(aq)

The equation above shows the double replacement reaction. A double replacement reaction
occur when two ions of an insoluble salt react with each other which yields to formation of
precipitate. In this case, the white precipitate is the salt of silver chloride, AgCl.