If sodium butanoate reacts with a strong acid, the product is which carboxylic acid?

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Multiple Choice

If sodium butanoate reacts with a strong acid, the product is which carboxylic acid?

Protonation of the carboxylate converts it back to the neutral carboxylic acid. In a strong acid, the butanoate anion grabs a proton to become butanoic acid, while the sodium ion pairs with the counterion to form a salt like NaCl. So the product is butanoic acid. The other options don’t arise from this acid–base transformation: butane is just a hydrocarbon with no COOH group, and butanone is a different carbonyl compound not produced by simply protonating a carboxylate.

Protonation of the carboxylate converts it back to the neutral carboxylic acid. In a strong acid, the butanoate anion grabs a proton to become butanoic acid, while the sodium ion pairs with the counterion to form a salt like NaCl. So the product is butanoic acid. The other options don’t arise from this acid–base transformation: butane is just a hydrocarbon with no COOH group, and butanone is a different carbonyl compound not produced by simply protonating a carboxylate.

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