The acidic strength of saturated aliphatic carboxylic acids depends mainly upon the inductive effect of the substituent and its position w.r.t., the -COOH group. Whereas electron donating substituents tend to decrease, electron withdrawing substituents tend to increase the acid sttrength. the acidic strength of aromatic carboxylic acids, on the other hand, depends upon both the inductive and the resonance effect of the substituents Q. Among the following, the strongest acid is

The acidic strength of saturated aliphatic carboxylic acids depends ma

1.	The acidic strength of saturated aliphatic carboxylic acids depends mainly upon the inductive effect of the substituent and its position w.r.t., the -COOH group. Whereas electron donating substituents tend to decrease, electron withdrawing substituents tend to increase the acid sttrength. the acidic strength of aromatic carboxylic acids, on the other hand, depends upon both the inductive and the resonance effect of the substituents Q. Among the following, the strongest acid is
Answer» `CH_(3)COOH` `C_(6)H_(5)COOH` `m-CH_(3)OC_(6)H_(4)COOH` `p-CH_(3)OC_(6)H_(4)COOH` Solution :Since in `C_(6)H_(5)COOH,-COOH` is attached to more electronegative `sp^(2)`-carbon of the `C_(6)H_(5)` ring while in `CH_(3)COOH`, it is attached to less electronegative `sp^(3)`-carbon of `CH_(3)` group, therefore, benzoic ACID is a STRONGER acid than ACETIC acid. since methoxy group acts as an electron-withdrawing group at m-position but electron-donating group at p-position, therefore, m-methoxybenzoic acid is even more acidic than benzoic acid. thus, option (c) is correct.