What are Organic Acids

 Hello fam, I believe that we have all been learning a lot from our discussions about acid. Today, I want us to look at the idea of organic acids.


I mentioned in the last post that organic acids are the acids that come from nature. The implication of this is that the acids that we referring to can be seen in everyday life. Let me quickly mention three organic acids;


1) Ethanoic acid (found in sour wine)

2) Lactic acid (Found in the body)

3) Citric acid (a component of citrus fruits)


We can see that all the acids that I have mentioned here can all be seen naturally. This does not mean that they can not be made in the lab. The use of the term "organic" in chemistry was grossly misunderstood many years ago.


At that time, it was believed that a certain "vital force" was responsible for the synthesis of organic compounds and that the force can only be found in living things. As such, organic substnaces can not be produced outside plants and animals.


This misconception went on for many years untill Fredrich Wohler accidentally discovered a synthesis of urea in the laboratory. He set out to synthesize something else but ended up with urea. This permanently ended the so called "vital force theory".


Today many organic compounds including organic acids can be synthesized in the laboratory by the use of simple chemical processess.


For instance, ethanoic acid can be synthesized by reacting  ethene with water and subsequently oxidizing the ethanol produced to ethanoic acid using dichromate solution under acidic conditions.


Hope you learnt something today?


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