Is Carboxylic Acid a Strong Acid Carboxylic acids are often considered moderate to weak acids rather than strong. Unlike strong acids such as hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, carboxylic acids do not readily dissociate into hydrogen ions and anions when dissolved in water.

Carboxylic acids are the strongest organic acids. However, their acidic strength is much less than mineral acids like HCl. Carboxylic acids ionize in water and readily lose the hydroxyl proton to form a resonance-stabilized carboxylate ion.

Carboxylic acids do this much more readily than most other classes of organic compounds, so they are said to be stronger acids, even though they are much weaker than the most important mineral acids—sulfuric (H2SO4), nitric (HNO3), and hydrochloric (HCl).