explain decarboxylation of sodium salts of carboxylic acids with a suitable chemical equation
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Contents Home Bookshelves Organic Chemistry Supplemental Modules (Organic Chemistry) Carboxylic Acids Reactivity of Carboxylic Acids Expand/collapse global location
The Decarboxylation of Carboxylic Acids and Their Salts
Last updatedSep 13, 2020
Simple Reactions of Carboxylic Acids as Acids
Synthesis of Carboxylic Acids
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Contributed by Jim Clark
Former Head of Chemistry and Head of Science at Truro School in Cornwall
This page looks at the formation of hydrocarbons by the decarboxylation of the salts of carboxylic acids (and of certain acids themselves) by heating them with soda lime. It does NOT cover the decarboxylation of some acids by simply heating them.
Decarboxylation using soda lime
A carboxylic acid has the formula RCOOH where R can be hydrogen or a hydrocarbon group such as an alkyl group. The hydrocarbon group could equally well be based on a benzene ring. The sodium salt of a carboxylic acid will have the formula RCOONa. In decarboxylation, the -COOH or -COONa group is removed and replaced with a hydrogen atom.
Soda lime is manufactured by adding sodium hydroxide solution to solid calcium oxide (quicklime). It is essentially a mixture of sodium hydroxide, calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide. It comes as white granules. In equations, it is almost always written as if it were simply sodium hydroxide