Acetate

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An acetate, or ethanoate, is a salt or ester of acetic acid.

Contents 1 Acetate anion 2 Acetate esters 3 Notation in organic chemistry 4 Structures 5 See also

[edit] Acetate anion

The acetate anion, [C₂H₃O₂]⁻, is a carboxylate and is the conjugate base of acetic acid. The acetate ion is formed by the deprotonation of acetic acid:

CH₃COOH ⇌ CH₃COO⁻ + H⁺

[edit] Acetate esters

An acetate ester is an ester of acetic acid, with the general formula C₂H₃O₂R, where R is an organyl group.

Acetate can also refer to cellulose acetate, especially fibers or other derived products such as the acetate disc used in audio record production. Cellulose acetate can be found in many household products.

[edit] Notation in organic chemistry

In the field of organic chemistry the abbreviation Ac refers to the acetyl group. Hence, acetate can be written ⁻OAc or AcO⁻ and acetic acid, sodium acetate, and ethyl acetate can be denoted by HOAc, NaOAc, and EtOAc respectively.

Ac is also the symbol for the chemical element actinium, but confusion between actinium and the acetyl group is rare, since actinium has virtually no role in organic chemistry.

[edit] Structures

space-filling model of the acetate anion	ball-and-stick model of the acetate anion	structural formula of the acetate anion	resonance hybrid of the acetate anion
canonical forms of the acetate anion	skeletal formula of the acetate anion	general skeletal structure of an acetate ester	skeletal structure of the acetyl group

[edit] See also

• Acetylation
• Cellulose acetate