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ACETIC ACID.
Contributed by tom
Friday, 29 February 2008
Last Updated Saturday, 01 March 2008

Also known as ethanoic acid. A colorless, corrosive liquid of pungent odor and composition CH3·COOH, having a wide
variety of industrial uses as a reagent, solvent, and esterifier.

A carboxylic acid, it is employed as a weak acid for etching and for soldering, in stain removers and bleaches, as a
preservative, in photographic chemicals, for the manufacture of cellulose acetate, as a solvent for essential oils, resins,
and gums as a precipitant for latex, in tanning leather, and in making artificial flavors. Acetic acid is found in the juices of
many fruits, and in combination in the stems or woody parts of plants. It is the active principle in vinegar giving it the
characteristic sour taste, acid flavor, and pungent odor. It is made commercially by the oxidation of ethyl alcohol, and
also produced in the destructive distillation of wood. It is also made by the reaction of methanol and carbon monoxide. Its
specific gravity is 1.049, its boiling point is 118°C, and it becomes a colorless solid below 16.6°C. The pure 99.9% solid is
known as glacial acetic acid. Standard and laundry special grades contain 99.5% acid, with water the chief impurity.
Standard strengths of water solution are 28, 56, 70, 80, 85, 90%.

Acetic anhydride, CH3COOCOCH3, a colorless liquid with boiling point l39.5°C, is a powerful acetylating agent, and is
used in making cellulose acetate. It forms acetic acid when water is added. Hydroxyacetic acid, HOCH2COOH, or
glycolic acid, is produced by oxidizing glycol with dilute nitric acid and is intermediate in strength between acetic and
formic acids. It is soluble in water, is nontoxic, and is used in foodstuffs dyeing, tanning, electropolishing, and in resins.
Its esters are solvents for resins. Diglycolic acid, O(CH2CO2H)2, is a white solid melting at 148°C. It is stronger than
tartaric or formic acids, and is used for making resins and plasticizers. Thioacetic acid has the formula of acetamide but
with HS replacing the NH2. It is a pungent liquid used for making esters for synthetic resins.

Chloroacetic acid, CH2ClCOOH, is a white crystalline powder melting at 6l.6°C and boiling at 189°C. It is used for
producing carboxymethylcellulose,dyes, and drugs. Sequestrene, used as a clarifying agent and water softener in soaps
and detergents, and to prevent rancidity in foods and sulfonated oils, is ethylene bisaminodiacetic acid, (HOOCCH2)2
NCH2CH2N(CH2COOH)2. It is a liquid, but in the form of its sodium salt is a water-soluble white powder. Trifluoroacetic
acid, CF3COOH, is one of the strongest organic acids. It is a colorless, corrosive liquid, boiling at
71.1°C and freezing at - l5.3°C. It is used in the manufacture of plastics, dyes, pharmaceuticals, and flame-resistant
compounds. Paracetic acid, CH3·O-COOH, is a colorless liquid of strong odor with the same solubility as acetic acid. It
has 8.6% available oxygen and is used as a bleaching agent, a polymerization catalyst, for making epoxy resins, and as
a bactericide. Acetin is an ester of acetic acid made from glycerin and acetic acid, used as a solvent for basic dyes and
tannins. It is a neutral straw-colored liquid of specific gravity 1.20 and boiling point 133 to 153°C. It is also used in low-
freezing dynamites and smokeless powder. The triacetic ester, triacetin, is a water-white liquid of specific gravity 1.16
and flash point 271°F (133°C), soluble in aromatic hydrocarbons. It is used as a plasticizer.

Phenylacetic acid, C6H5CH2COOH, is a white flaky solid melting at 74.5°C. The reactive methylene group makes it useful
for the manufacture of fine chemicals. Cyanoacetic acid, CN ·CH2·COOH, has an active methylene group and an easily
oxidized cyano group, and is used for producing caffeine, while the derivative ethyl cyauoacetate, NC-CH2COO ·CH2-
CH3 a liquid boiling at 207°C, is used for making many drugs.Malonic acid, CH2(COOH)2, is a very reactive acid
sometimes used instead of acetic acid for making plastics, drugs, and perfumes. It decomposes at 160°C, yielding acetic
acid and carbon dioxide. Methyl acetic acid, CH3CH2COOH, is propionic acid or propanoic acid, a by-product in the
extraction of potash from kelp. Modifications of this acid are used for cross-linking plastics.

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