Why do both HC2H3O2 and CH3COOH represent acetic acid?
There are two ways to represent simple organic molecules. You can simply list the atoms and the numbers of each: C2H4O2 or you can list the chemical groups: CH3 is a methyl group and COOH is carboxilic acid group making CH3COOH “HC2H3O2” is a mixture of the two systems. The first H represents the H ion which leaves the acid when it is in solution and the “C2H3O2” is the formula of the entire acetyl (or acetate) ion. I’ve not seen it written like that before. In the CH3COOH form it’s the (CH3COO) part which is the acetyl ion and the H on the end which is H ion. A quick check on google shows that CH3COOH is written three hundred times as often as HC2H3O2, suggesting that whoever wrote HC2H3O2 probably isn’t up on his organic chemistry!
