 Aqueous sodium hydroxide and carboxylic acids, even hydrophobic ones, react to yield water-soluble sodium salts.For example, enathic acid has a low solubility in water (0.2 g/L), but its sodium salt is very soluble in water.Carboxylic acids tend to have higher boiling points than water, because of their greater surface areas and their tendency to form stabilised dimers through hydrogen bonds.