Will a carboxylic acid be more soluble in acidic or basic solutions?

1 Answer
anor277
Nov 16, 2015

It will be more soluble in a basic solution. Of course, it will be present in solution as its conjugate base, the carboxylate ion.

Explanation:

#RC(=O)OH + OH^(-) rarr RC(=O)O^(-) + H_2O#
A base will react with a weak acid to give the appropriate products. The charged species should be more soluble in aqueous solution than its parent acid.

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