Carboxylic acids conversion to acyl chlorides

The most appar ent chemical property of car boxylic acids, then- acidity, has already been examined in earlier sections of this chapter. Three reactions of carboxylic acids—conversion to acyl chlorides, reduction, and esterification—have been encountered in previous chapters and are reviewed in Table 19.5. Acid-catalyzed esterification of carboxylic acids is one of the fundfflnental reactions of organic chemistry, and this portion of the chapter begins with an exanination of the mechanism by which it occurs. Later, in Sections 19.16 and 19.17, two new reactions of carboxylic acids that are of synthetic value will be described. 

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