Carboxylic acids
may be aliphatic (RCOOH) or aromatic (ArCOOH) depending on the group,
alkyl or aryl, attached to carboxylic carbon Large  number of carboxylic
acids are found in nature Some higher members of aliphatic carboxylic
acids (C12 – C18) known as fatty acids, occur in natural fats as esters of
glycerol Carboxylic acids serve as starting material for several other
important organic compounds such as anhydrides, esters, acid chlorides,
amides, etc