Why are acid anhydrides acidic?

Answer 1

Because they form carboxylic acids in aqueous solution, and these are proton donors.

Acid anhydrides are essentially two carboxylic acid molecules, joined together by a condensation reaction between the two -COOH groups to form -COOCO- and eliminate water. They react readily with water to form two carboxylic acids again, so in the presence of water, the acid anhydride is hydrolysed and forms carboxylic acids again and these release #H^+(aq)# ions into the solution.

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Answer 2

Paisley Boney

Acid anhydrides are acidic because they can donate a proton (H+) to a water molecule, forming a hydronium ion (H3O+). This process releases the acidic hydrogen ion, making the solution acidic.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.