Chemistry

20 Uses of Acetic Acid (CH3COOH)

Acetic acid is a simple organic acid with a carboxylic group attached to a methyl group. It is known as ethanoic acid, ethylic acid, or glacial acetic acid. Due to the presence of the carboxylic group, it is acidic in nature. It is the main constituent of vinegar. It is very sour to taste and has a pungent smell. In this article, we discuss the uses of acetic acid in industry, chemical synthesis, medicine, and the household. You can read our articles on acids, bases, and salts, and the uses of acids for more information.

Uses of acetic acid in industries

Acetic acid is used in the manufacture of starting materials for paints and adhesives. — Acetic acid is used in the manufacture of precursors for paints and adhesives.
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

Used in the synthesis of dyes and inks.
Used in the synthesis of fragrances.
It is used in the rubber and plastic industries. It is used as solvent and starting material for many important polymers in the rubber and plastic industry like PVA, PET, etc.
Used as a starting material for constituents of paints and adhesives
Used in the food processing industry as an additive and food preservative in cheese and sauces.

Uses of acetic acid in chemical synthesis

Uses of Acetic Acid: Photographic films — Photographic films are made of cellulose acetate. It is a cellulose derivative of acetic acid.
Image by analogicus from Pixabay

Used in the synthesis of cellulose acetate. Cellulose acetate is used in photographic films and textiles. Before the invention of cellulose acetate films photography films used to be made of nitrate, which had many safety issues.
Used as a solvent in the synthesis of terephthalic acid. The process is called the Amoco process. p-xylene is oxidized into terephthalic acid. Terephthalic acid is used in the synthesis of PET, which is widely used in the manufacture of plastic bottles.
It is widely used in the synthesis of esters by reaction with various alcohols. Acetic acid ester derivatives are widely used as food additives.
Used in the synthesis of vinylene acetate monomer. This monomer can then be polymerized to form polyvinyl acetate) also commonly known as PVA. PVA has wide applications, from medicine (due to its biocompatibility) to nanotechnology (as stabilizing agents) to paper manufacturing.
Used as a solvent in many organic catalytic reactions. You can read this article titled “Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxidation of Aromatic Aldehydes by Imidazolium Dichromate in Aqueous Acetic Acid Medium” to learn more.

Uses of acetic acid in medicine

Acetic acid is used in a technique called chromoendoscopy, which is an alternative to traditional endoscopy. Read this article with DOI: 10.1186/1471-230X-10-97 for more information.
Acetic acid is used for visual inspection of cervical cancers and lesions. It is also used in cervical cancer screening. Read this article for more information.
Acetic acid is used in the treatment of otitis externa.
Acetic acid is also sometimes used to treat bacterial and fungal infections.
In laboratory trials on mice, it has been shown that acetic acid can alleviate the inflammatory response in mice.

Household uses of acetic acid

Vinegar is used for seasoning of salads. House-hold vinegar contains around 4% of acetic acid. — Vinegar is used for the seasoning of salads. Household vinegar contains around 4% of acetic acid.Image by RitaE from Pixabay

Acetic acid is the major constituent of vinegar.
Vinegar is used in the pickling of vegetables
Used in salads for seasoning
Used in the baking process. It reacts with baking soda to release carbon dioxide gas, which makes the food item fluffy.
Used as an anti-fungal agent. You can read this article, “An Evaluation of Antifungal Agents for the Treatment of Fungal Contamination in Indoor Air Environments” to learn more about the antifungal properties of acetic acid.

Caution

Acetic acid is a weak acid, but it can be corrosive in its concentrated form. It is better to be safe while handling acetic acid. It is harmful to the eyes and skin. The vapors can also can be quite harmful if inhaled. Since it is a colorless liquid, the concentration cannot be determined with the naked eye. It is better to use your nitrile gloves and lab coats while handling acetic acid.

Are glacial acetic acid, acetic acid, and vinegar the same?

Vinegar is a diluted form of acetic acid for household use. Glacial acetic acid is the anhydrous form of acetic acid.

Research

Acetic acid is known to lower blood pressure and control blood sugar. In this article “The role of acetic acid on glucose uptake and blood flow rates in the skeletal muscle in humans with impaired glucose tolerance” authors have tried to study the impact of acetic acid on the human body.

In the article “Effects of acetylsalicylic acid and acetic acid solutions in VX2 carcinoma cells. In vitro analysis” the authors have studied the effect of acetic acid solutions on cancer cells in in-vitro conditions (outside the biological system).

This article titled “Re‐evaluation of acetic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, mono‐ and diacetyl tartaric acid, mixed acetic and tartaric acid esters of mono‐ and diglycerides of fatty acids (E 472a‐f) as food additives” investigates the reported uses of acetic acid derivatives as a food additive and also analyzes the safety concerns with respect to the usage limits.

Acetic acid is used to diagnose gastric cancer using a modified endoscopy technique called acetic acid chromoendoscopy. You can read this article for more information.