Name

Description

Acid

Substances that in aqueous form taste sour, change blue litmus red, react with bases to form salts and react with metals to release hydrogen. Acid molecules have at least one hydrogen cation (H+) attached to an anion (-).  Acids are broken up into 2 groups, inorganic and organic.

Inorganic Acid

Inorganic compounds are also known as the mineral compounds.  Examples of these are sulfuric, nitric, hydrochloric, and phosphoric acids.

Organic Acid

Organic acids contain carbon.  Citric acid falls into this group.  Organic compounds are broken up into carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid, and phenol groups.  In aqueous form, these substances release their one or more hydrogen atoms as positively charged (cation) hydrogen ions.  Citric acid is a carboxylic acid.

Carboxylic Acid

Carboxylic acids are organic acids where a carbon atom is double bonded with an oxygen atom bonded to a hydroxyl group as well by a single bond and a fourth bond that fourth bond that links a carbon or hydrogen atom to another univalent group.  Carboxylic acids are classified by structure or by function. Carboxylic acids are more acidic than most organic compounds but weaker than the mineral acids.

Functional Group

A functional group is a group of atoms inside a molecule that are the reason for certain characteristics and properties of that molecule.  Molecules are broken up by functional groups.

Hydroxyl Group

The hydroxyl group is a functional group that is made up of a single bond between a hydrogen and oxygen atom.

Ester

Ester is an organic compound that results from a reaction between and acid and alcohol