Carboxylic acids have the functional group –COOH. The first four members of a homologous series of carboxylic acids are methanoic acid, ethanoic acid, propanoic acid and butanoic acid. The structures of carboxylic acids can be represented in the following forms: CH3COOH or Students should be able to: • describe what happens when any of the first four carboxylic acids react with carbonates, dissolve in water, react with alcohols • Students should be able to recognise carboxylic acids from their names or from given formulae. Students do not need to know the names of individual carboxylic acids other than methanoic acid, ethanoic acid, propanoic acid and butanoic acid. Students are not expected to write balanced chemical equations for the reactions of carboxylic acids. Students do not need to know the names of esters other than ethyl ethanoate.