[justin1287]

How would I remove the C from COOH? Thanks.

[sjb]

How would I remove the C from COOH? Thanks.

And replace it with what? It's not clear what you're asking.

[justin1287]

Sorry, I'm pretty poor at chemistry at the moment....trying to learn. I was wondering if it is possible to turn C11H16O2 into C9H16O2 on a living plant. From my research i have came up with the ideas of spraying vitamin C or cyclohexenone on them. I also ran across people breaking the bond of CO2 with VUV light. I'm basically looking for a decarboxylation method without heat that I can do on a plant. Thanks for your time!

[Arkcon]

No.  Its not remotely possible, as you've described it.  Briefly, you haven't described decarboxylation, heat or not.  What you described is de carbonizatin, which doesn't even exist.  Look at a structure, not the simplified formulas you have.  The carbon is bonded to the rest of the molecule, double bonded to an oxygen, and bonded to another oxygen (that is itself bonded to a hydrogen.)  Where are all the other atoms going to go, and why would carbon leave?  What form would that carbon have, fullerenes, graphite or diamond?  What you are describing is a pretty significant rearrangement, and those follow pretty particular rules, even if they are possible.

[justin1287]

Cool....thanks for taking the time to write all that. I'm 35 years old and want to understand chemistry better. Last time I took a chemistry class was in '96. It looks like I will be ordering "Organic Chemistry 6th edition" by Morrison and Boyd.