Anoic

Anoic is a term used in organic chemistry nomenclature rather than a chemical substance. It refers to the suffix -anoic that appears in the systematic names of saturated carboxylic acids, the alkanoic acids, indicating the presence of a carboxyl group attached to a straight-chain alkane skeleton.

In IUPAC naming, the part of the name before -anoic identifies the number of carbon atoms in the parent chain. For example, methanoic acid (formic acid) has one carbon, ethanoic acid (acetic acid) has two, propanoic acid (propionic acid) has three, and butanoic acid (butyric acid) has four. The suffix -anoic thereby signals a saturated carboxylic acid.

When a double bond is present in the carboxylic acid, the suffix changes to -enoic, reflecting the unsaturation. For instance, propenoic acid (2-propenoic acid) is known as acrylic acid. The use of -enoic contrasts with -anoic to distinguish unsaturated from saturated carboxylic acids.

Anoic as a morpheme is part of naming conventions rather than a concrete compound. It helps standardize communication about carboxylic acids in chemistry, biochemistry, and related fields. Related terms include alkanoic acids, carboxylic acids, and IUPAC nomenclature, which together describe how carbon skeletons and functional groups determine systematic names.