Acids, carboxylic equilibrium constants

Sections 3.3.1 and 4.2.1 dealt with Bronsted acid/base equilibria in which the solvent itself is involved in the chemical reaction as either an acid or a base. This Section describes some examples of solvent effects on proton-transfer (PT) reactions in which the solvent does not intervene directly as a reaction partner. New interest in the investigation of such acid/base equilibria in non-aqueous solvents has been generated by the pioneering work of Barrow et al. [164]. He studied the acid/base reactions between carboxylic acids and amines in tetra- and trichloromethane. A more recent compilation of Bronsted acid/base equilibrium constants, determined in up to twelve dipolar aprotic solvents, demonstrates the appreciable solvent influence on acid ionization constants [264]. For example, the p.Ka value of benzoic acid varies from 4.2 in water, 11.0 in dimethyl sulfoxide, 12.3 in A,A-dimethylformamide, up to 20.7 in acetonitrile, that is by about 16 powers of ten [264]. 

Perhaps the most extensively studied catalytic reaction in acpreous solutions is the metal-ion catalysed hydrolysis of carboxylate esters, phosphate esters , phosphate diesters, amides and nittiles". Inspired by hydrolytic metalloenzymes, a multitude of different metal-ion complexes have been prepared and analysed with respect to their hydrolytic activity. Unfortunately, the exact mechanism by which these complexes operate is not completely clarified. The most important role of the catalyst is coordination of a hydroxide ion that is acting as a nucleophile. The extent of activation of tire substrate througji coordination to the Lewis-acidic metal centre is still unclear and probably varies from one substrate to another. For monodentate substrates this interaction is not very efficient. Only a few quantitative studies have been published. Chan et al. reported an equilibrium constant for coordination of the amide carbonyl group of... 

All these facts—the observation of second order kinetics nucleophilic attack at the carbonyl group and the involvement of a tetrahedral intermediate—are accommodated by the reaction mechanism shown m Figure 20 5 Like the acid catalyzed mechanism it has two distinct stages namely formation of the tetrahedral intermediate and its subsequent dissociation All the steps are reversible except the last one The equilibrium constant for proton abstraction from the carboxylic acid by hydroxide is so large that step 4 is for all intents and purposes irreversible and this makes the overall reaction irreversible... 

Process Applications The production of esters from alcohols and carboxylic acids illustrates many of the principles of reactive distillation as applied to equilibrium-limited systems. The equilibrium constants for esterification reactions are usually relatively close to unity. Large excesses of alcohols must be used to obtain acceptable yields with large recycles. In a reactive-distiUation scheme, the reac-... 

The main polymerization method is by hydrolytic polymerization or a combination of ring opening as in (3.11) and hydrolytic polymerization as in (3.12).5,7 9 11 28 The reaction of a carboxylic group with an amino group can be noncatalyzed and acid catalyzed. This is illustrated in the reaction scheme shown in Fig. 3.13. The kinetics of the hydrolytic polyamidation-type reaction has die form shown in (3.13). In aqueous solutions, die polycondensation can be described by second-order kinetics.29 Equation (3.13) can also be expressed as (3.14) in which B is die temperature-independent equilibrium constant and AHa the endialpy change of die reaction5 6 812 28 29 ... 

Pyrrole-2-carboxylate decarboxylase attains equilibrium in the course of either decarboxylation or carboxylation (Fig. 8). The decarboxylation of 100 mM pyrrole-2-carboxylate was in equilibrium after Ih, resulting in an equilibrium constant of 0.3 M." Due to this balanced equilibrium, the enzyme also catalyzed the reverse carboxylation of pyrrole after the addition of HCO3, leading to a similar equilibrium constant of 0.4 M and a shift of the [pyrrole]/[pyrrole-2-carboxylate] ratio toward the acid. 

By methods analogous to those used for the tetrahedral intermediates related to carboxylic acid derivatives, Guthrie proceeded from the heat of formation of pentaeth-oxyphosphorane to free energies of the P(OEt) (OH)5 species. °° This allowed the calculation of the equilibrium constants for addition of water or hydroxide to simple alkyl esters of phosphoric acid see Table 1.7. 

In contrast to the reactions of the cycloamyloses with esters of carboxylic acids and organophosphorus compounds, the rate of an organic reaction may, in some cases, be modified simply by inclusion of the reactant within the cycloamylose cavity. Noncovalent catalysis may be attributed to either (1) a microsolvent effect derived from the relatively apolar properties of the microscopic cycloamylose cavity or (2) a conformational effect derived from the geometrical requirements of the inclusion process. Kinetically, noncovalent catalysis may be characterized in the same way as covalent catalysis that is, /c2 once again represents the rate of all productive processes that occur within the inclusion complex, and Kd represents the equilibrium constant for dissociation of the complex. 

Published equilibrium constants for monocarboxylato complexes are summarized in Table VII. All that can be deduced with certainty from these data is that the anions derived from monocarboxylic acids form rather weak complexes with beryllium. In all probability they act as monodentate ligands. The possibility of bidentate chelation using both carboxylate oxygen atoms can be ruled out on the grounds... 

Esters are the product of reaction between an alcohol and a carboxylic acid. Although the reaction can be slow - particularly at lower temperatures - the equilibrium constant is sufficiently high for the eventual yield of ester to be significant. We see how even a small amount of carboxylic acid and alcohol can generate a sufficient amount of ester to be detected by smell or taste. 

Amino acids are characterized by the presence of adjacent carboxylic (-C0 H) and amino (-NH) functional groups. The equilibrium constant for protonation or dissociation of these groups is a function of their position in the amino acid molecule. Therefore, widely differing acid-base properties of amino acids occur, depending upon the number of functional groups and their relative position in the molecule. The dissociation constants for various amino acids used in this investigation are given in Table I. 

Drug molecules frequently contain functional groups such as amines and carboxylic acids that are ionized under normal physiological conditions. Typically, these are registered in databases in their neutral forms that are perfectly reasonable when the main objective is efficient retrieval of structures. Representation of tautomers [6, 7], which differ only in bond type and hydrogen atom connectivity, raises similar issues while measurement of the relevant equilibrium constants is significantly more difficult. 

Ring-chain equilibrium constants Ky have been determined by using IR and H-NMR spectroscopy [93JCS(P2)635] for a series of 2-phenylacetylbenzoic (9) and benzyl-2-carboxylic (10) acids substituted in the phenyl group. A good linear correlation between Ky and the constants a or ct for the substituents X was obtained. As shown in Table I, for acids... 

Correlation Parameters of Ring-Chain Equilibrium Constants of 2-Phenylacetylbenzoic (9) AND Benzil-2 carboxylic (10) Acids"... 

An enzymatic reaction intermediate formed by phospho-ryl transfer to a carboxyl group on an enzyme. Acyl-phosphates are structurally analogous to acid anhydrides (R—CO —O —CO—R ), and they are thermodynamically less stable than either of the two phosphoanhydride bonds in ATP. This is evident by the fact that the acetate kinase reaction (ADP + acetyl-phosphate = ATP + acetate) favors ATP formation with an equilibrium constant of about 3,000. Acetyl-phosphate can be chemically synthesized by reacting orthophosphate with acetic anhydride. 

For the aromatic carboxylic acids, substituents on the aromatic ring may also influence the acidity of the acid. Benzoic acid, for example, has = 4.3 x 10 . The placements of various activating groups on the ring decrease the value of the equilibrium constant, and deactivating groups increase the value of the equilibrium constant. Table 12-2 illustrates the influence of a number of para-substituents upon the acidity of benzoic acid. 

This crude analysis is based on the behavior postulated by the Born equation. However, ion-pair formation equilibrium constants have been observed to deviate ma edly from that behavior (22/ -222)1 Oakenful, and Fenwick (222) found a maximum in the ion-pair formation constants of several alkylamines with carboxylic acids when determined at various methanol-water solvent compositions as shown by their data in Fig. 54. The results demonstrate that in this system the stability constant decreases with increasing organic solvent concentration above a.critical value which yields maximum stability. The authors suggested that this was due to a weakening of hydrophobic interactions between the ion-pair forming species by increased alcohol concentrations. In practice the effect of added organic solvent has been either to decrease the retention factor or to have virtually no effect. 

CZE-ELD, with a An microelectrode at —0.6 V vs. SCSE and a Pt wire as auxiliary electrode, using sodium borate buffer and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide for dynamic coating of the capillary internal surface, can be applied for separation and determination of hydroperoxides in ultra-trace amounts. Thus, various hydroperoxides derived from linoleic acid undergo total dissociation to carboxylates in borate buffer however, due to their similar molecular masses, in order to resolve the ELD signals, it is necessary to add /3 -cyclodextrin (83) to form complexes with the analytes and reduce their mobility, in accordance with the value of the complexation equilibrium constants . 

Although carboxylic acids are much weaker acids than the strong mineral acids, e.g. HCl, H2SO4 and HNO3, they can still dissociate in aqueous solution and form carboxylate ions (RC02 ). The equilibrium constant for this process is = 10 (p fa= 5). Carboxylic acids are more acidic than analogous alcohols. For example, the values of ethanoic acid and ethanol are, respectively, 4.74 and 15.9. 

The definition of pH is pH = —log[H+] (which will be modified to include activity later). Ka is the equilibrium constant for the dissociation of an acid HA + H20 H30+ + A-. Kb is the base hydrolysis constant for the reaction B + H20 BH+ + OH. When either Ka or Kb is large, the acid or base is said to be strong otherwise, the acid or base is weak. Common strong acids and bases are listed in Table 6-2, which you should memorize. The most common weak acids are carboxylic acids (RC02H), and the most common weak bases are amines (R3N ). Carboxylate anions (RC02) are weak bases, and ammonium ions (R3NH+) are weak acids. Metal cations also are weak acids. For a conjugate acid-base pair in water, Ka- Kb = Kw. For polyprotic acids, we denote the successive acid dissociation constants as Kal, K, K, , or just Aj, K2, A"3, . For polybasic species, we denote successive hydrolysis constants Kbi, Kb2, A"h3, . For a diprotic system, the relations between successive acid and base equilibrium constants are Afa Kb2 — Kw and K.a Kbl = A w. For a triprotic system the relations are A al KM = ATW, K.d2 Kb2 = ATW, and Ka2 Kb, = Kw. 

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