Propionic acid (, from the Greek words πρῶτος : prōtos, meaning "first", and πίων : píōn, meaning "fat"; also known as propanoic acid) is a naturally occurring carboxylic acid with chemical formula . It is a liquid with a pungent and unpleasant smell somewhat resembling body odor. The anion as well as the salts and esters of propionic acid are known as propionates or propanoates. History Propionic acid was first described in 1844 by Johann Gottlieb, who found it among the degradation products of sugar. Over the next few years, other chemists produced propionic acid by different means, none of them realizing they were producing the same substance. In 1847, French chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas established all the acids to be the same compound, which he called propionic acid, from the Greek words πρῶτος (prōtos), meaning first, and πίων (piōn), meaning fat, because it is the smallest acid that exhibits the properties of the other fatty acids, such as producing an oily layer when salted out of water and having a soapy potassium salt.<ref>Dumas, Malaguti, and F. Leblanc (1847) "Sur l'identité des acides métacétonique et butyro-acétique" [On the identity of metacetonic acid and butyro-acetic acid], Comptes rendus, 25 : 781–784. Propionic acid is named on p. 783: ''"Ces caractères nous ont conduits à désigner cet acide sous le nom dacide propionique, nom qui rappelle sa place dans la séries des acides gras: il en est le premier." (These characteristics led us to designate this acid by the name of propionic acid, a name that recalls its place in the series of fatty acids: it is the first of them.)</ref> Properties Propionic acid has physical properties intermediate between those of the smaller carboxylic acids, formic and acetic acids, and the larger fatty acids. It is miscible with water, but can be removed from water by adding salt. As with acetic and formic acids, it consists of hydrogen bonded pairs of molecules in both the liquid and the vapor. Propionic acid displays the general properties of carboxylic acids: it can form amide, ester, anhydride, and chloride derivatives. It undergoes the Hell–Volhard–Zelinsky reaction that involves α-halogenation of a carboxylic acid with bromine, catalysed by phosphorus tribromide, in this case to form 2-bromopropanoic acid, . This product has been used to prepare a racemic mixture of alanine by ammonolysis. Manufacture Chemical In industry, propionic acid is mainly produced by the hydrocarboxylation of ethylene using nickel