Preparation of Carboxylic Acids

Having covered how aldehydes and ketones are prepared (12.4), the chapter turns next to how carboxylic acids themselves are made. Six distinct preparative routes are given, one per numbered subsection: from nitriles and amides (12.5.1), from acyl chlorides and anhydrides (12.5.2), from esters (12.5.3), by oxidising alkylbenzenes (12.5.4), by oxidising alkenes (12.5.5), and from a Grignard reagent plus carbon dioxide (12.5.6). Together these six routes cover every major functional-g …