Chloroformic acid does not exist while chloroethylformate exists. Explain.

Explanation

To understand why chloroformic acid does not exist while chloroethylformate does, we need to analyze the structures and the effects of substituents on these compounds.

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understanding Chloroformic Acid**:
- Chloroformic acid can be represented as ClCOOH. It has a chlorine atom attached to the carbon of the carboxylic acid group (-COOH).
- The chlorine atom exerts a strong inductive effect, which is a tendency of electronegative atoms to pull electron density away from adjacent atoms.

...