Question

I had sent my question why is acetic acid written as CH³COOH and not CH³CO²H.
Later I got a reply from sir Abhijeet C.S. that it is because acids end with COOH.
Then I want to ask my next question why do acids end with COOH ?

Answer 1

The IUPAC system of nomenclature assigns a characteristic suffix to these classes. The –e ending is removed from the name of the parent chain and is replaced -anoic acid. Since a carboxylic acid group must always lie at the end of a carbon chain, it is always is given the #1 location position in numbering and it is not necessary to include it in the name.

Many carboxylic acids are called by the common names. These names were chosen by chemists to usually describe a source of where the compound is found. In common names of aldehydes, carbon atoms near the carboxyl group are often designated by Greek letters. The atom adjacent to the carbonyl function is alpha, the next removed is beta and so on.