Question

Heating of 3-oxo Butanoic acid

Answer 1

Acetone

Answer 2

3-oxo Butanoic acid is a beta-keto acid. Beta-keto acids readily undergo decarboxylation (loss of CO₂) upon heating. The reaction proceeds via a cyclic transition state, forming an enol intermediate which then tautomerizes to the more stable keto product. For 3-oxo Butanoic acid, the -COOH group is lost as CO₂, and the remaining CH₃-CO-CH₂- portion forms acetone (CH₃-CO-CH₃) after rearrangement.