Carboxylic acids react with Thionyl Chloride (SOCl2) to form acid chlorides. Carboxylic acids can react with alcohols to form esters in a process called Fischer esterification.

How do carboxylic acids react?

Carboxylic acids react with the more reactive metals to produce a salt and hydrogen. The reactions are just the same as with acids like hydrochloric acid, except they tend to be rather slower. For example, dilute ethanoic acid reacts with magnesium.

What kind of reactions do carboxylic acids undergo?

In general, carboxylic acids undergo a nucleophilic substitution reaction where the nucleophile (-OH) is substituted by another nucleophile (Nu). The carbonyl group (C=O) gets polarized (i.e. there is a charge separation), since oxygen is more electronegative than carbon and pulls the electron density towards itself.