Basicity Sodium trichloroacetate is a weaker base than
sodium acetate because of the electron-withdrawing nature of the
trichloromethyl group.
Sodium trifluoroacetate is likewise an even weaker base. Sodium trichloroacetate can easily be protonated in the presence of suitably strong acids: :
Trichloromethyl-anion precursor This reagent is useful for introducing the trichloromethyl group into other molecules. Decarboxylation produces the trichloromethyl anion, which is a sufficiently strong
nucleophile to attack various
carbonyl functional groups, such as
aldehydes,
carboxylic acid anhydrides,
ketones (making a precursor for the
Jocic–Reeve reaction), and
acyl halides. == See also ==