Description

At room temperature, citric acid is a white crystalline powder. It can exist either in an anhydrous (water-free) form or as a monohydrate. The anhydrous form crystallizes from hot water, whereas the monohydrate forms when citric acid is crystallized from cold water. The monohydrate can be converted to the anhydrous form by heating it above *4 c. Citric acid also dissolves in absolute (anhydrous) ethanol (*6 parts of citric acid per **0 parts of ethanol) at *5 degrees celsius. In chemical structure, citric acid shares the properties of other carboxylic acids. When heated above **5 c, it decomposes through the loss of carbon dioxide and water.