Dissociation, weak acids/bases

Strong acids completely dissociate (ionize) in water. Weak acids partially dissociate and establish an equilibrium system. There is a large range of weak acids based upon their ability to donate protons. Consider the general weak acid HA and its reaction when placed in water ... 

Strong acids and bases (and strong electrolytes) dissociate completely in water. Therefore, you can use the concentrations of these compounds to determine the concentrations of the ions they form in aqueous solutions. You cannot, however, use the concentrations of weak acids, bases, and electrolytes in the same way. Their solutions contain some particles that have not dissociated into ions. Nevertheless, important changes in [HsOT and [OH ] take place because dissolved ions affect the dissociation of water. 

II. Salts of weak acids and strong bases, when dissolved in water, produce a solution which reacts alkaline. The reason for this is that the anion combines with hydrogen ions to form a sparingly dissociated weak acid, leaving hydroxyl ions behind. In a solution of sodium acetate for example the following two equilibria exist ... 

At the second critical pH (pH,, ), which is usually below the protein isoelectric point, strong electrostatic interaction between positively charged protein molecules and anionic polysaccharide chains will cause soluble protein/polysaccharide complexes to aggregate into insoluble protein/polysaccharide complexes. For negatively charged weak acid-based (e.g., carboxylic acid) polysaccharides like pectin, with the decrease of pH below the pKa of the polysaccharide, protein (e.g., bovine serum albumin (BSA))/polysaccharide (e.g., pectin) insoluble complexes may dissociate into soluble complexes, or even non-interacted protein molecules and polysaccharide chains, due to the low charges of polysaccharide chains as well as the repulsion between the positively charged proteins (Dickinson 1998). 

Acids and bases can be classified as strong and/or weak acids/bases depending on their tendency to ionize. Strong acids completely ionize into H+, whereas weak acids only partially ionize or dissociate in water. 

K2 is called the hydrolysis constant for sodium ethanoate. Hydrolysis occurs when salts involving weak acids or bases are dissolved in water. It is often also found with metal ions in solution. The ion [M(H20) ] dissociates to the hydroxy species [M(H20) , (OH)]f 1. ... 

Strong and Weak Acids The reaction of an acid with its solvent (typically water) is called an acid dissociation reaction. Acids are divided into two categories based on the ease with which they can donate protons to the solvent. Strong acids, such as Fid, almost completely transfer their protons to the solvent molecules. 

This relationship between and Kb simplifies the tabulation of acid and base dissociation constants. Acid dissociation constants for a variety of weak acids are listed in Appendix 3B. The corresponding values of Kb for their conjugate weak bases are determined using equation 6.14. 

It has been shown that for most acid-base titrations the inflection point, which corresponds to the greatest slope in the titration curve, very nearly coincides with the equivalence point. The inflection point actually precedes the equivalence point, with the error approaching 0.1% for weak acids or weak bases with dissociation constants smaller than 10 , or for very dilute solutions. Equivalence points determined in this fashion are indicated on the titration curves in figure 9.8. 

The principal limitation to using a titration curve to locate the equivalence point is that an inflection point must be present. Sometimes, however, an inflection point may be missing or difficult to detect, figure 9.9, for example, demonstrates the influence of the acid dissociation constant, iQ, on the titration curve for a weak acid with a strong base titrant. The inflection point is visible, even if barely so, for acid dissociation constants larger than 10 , but is missing when is 10 k... 

Another situation in which an inflection point may be missing or difficult to detect occurs when the analyte is a multiprotic weak acid or base whose successive dissociation constants are similar in magnitude. To see why this is true let s consider the titration of a diprotic weak acid, H2A, with NaOH. During the titration the following two reactions occur. 

The plT at which an acid-base indicator changes color is determined by its acid dissociation constant. For an indicator that is a monoprotic weak acid, ITIn, the following dissociation reaction occurs... 

Equilibrium Constants Another application of acid-base titrimetry is the determination of equilibrium constants. Consider, for example, the titration of a weak acid, HA, with a strong base. The dissociation constant for the weak acid is... 

Partanen, J. I. Karki, M. H. Determination of the Thermodynamic Dissociation Constant of a Weak Acid by Potentiometric Acid-Base Titration, /. Chem. Educ. 1994,... 

Acid—Base Chemistry. Acetic acid dissociates in water, pK = 4.76 at 25°C. It is a mild acid which can be used for analysis of bases too weak to detect in water (26). It readily neutralizes the ordinary hydroxides of the alkaU metals and the alkaline earths to form the corresponding acetates. When the cmde material pyroligneous acid is neutralized with limestone or magnesia the commercial acetate of lime or acetate of magnesia is obtained (7). Acetic acid accepts protons only from the strongest acids such as nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Other acids exhibit very powerful, superacid properties in acetic acid solutions and are thus useful catalysts for esterifications of olefins and alcohols (27). Nitrations conducted in acetic acid solvent are effected because of the formation of the nitronium ion, NO Hexamethylenetetramine [100-97-0] may be nitrated in acetic acid solvent to yield the explosive cycl o trim ethyl en etrin itram in e [121 -82-4] also known as cyclonit or RDX. 

In the discussion of the relative acidity of carboxylic acids in Chapter 1, the thermodynamic acidity, expressed as the acid dissociation constant, was taken as the measure of acidity. It is straightforward to determine dissociation constants of such adds in aqueous solution by measurement of the titration curve with a pH-sensitive electrode (pH meter). Determination of the acidity of carbon acids is more difficult. Because most are very weak acids, very strong bases are required to cause deprotonation. Water and alcohols are far more acidic than most hydrocarbons and are unsuitable solvents for generation of hydrocarbon anions. Any strong base will deprotonate the solvent rather than the hydrocarbon. For synthetic purposes, aprotic solvents such as ether, tetrahydrofuran (THF), and dimethoxyethane (DME) are used, but for equilibrium measurements solvents that promote dissociation of ion pairs and ion clusters are preferred. Weakly acidic solvents such as DMSO and cyclohexylamine are used in the preparation of strongly basic carbanions. The high polarity and cation-solvating ability of DMSO facilitate dissociation... 

A base is any material that produces hydroxide ions when it is dissolved in water. The words alkaline, basic, and caustic are often used synonymously. Common bases include sodium hydroxide (lye), potassium hydroxide (potash lye), and calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). The concepts of strong versus weak bases, and concentrated versus dilute bases are exactly analogous to those for acids. Strong bases such as sodium hydroxide dissociate completely while weak bases such as the amines dissociate only partially. As with acids, bases can be either inorganic or organic. Typical reactions of bases include neutralization of acids, reaction with metals, and reaction with salts ... 

An inflection point in a pH-rate profile suggests a change in the nature of the reaction caused by a change in the pH of the medium. The usual reason for this behavior is an acid-base equilibrium of a reactant. Here we consider the simplest such system, in which the substrate is a monobasic acid (or monoacidic base). It is pertinent to consider the mathematical nature of the acid-base equilibrium. Let HS represent a weak acid. (The charge type is irrelevant.) The acid dissociation constant, = [H ][S ]/[HS], is taken to be appropriate to the conditions (temperature, ionic strength, solvent) of the kinetic experiments. The fractions of solute in the conjugate acid and base forms are given by... 

The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation provides a general solution to the quantitative treatment of acid-base equilibria in biological systems. Table 2.4 gives the acid dissociation constants and values for some weak electrolytes of biochemical interest. 

As an example of the problem of species in solution, consider the case of a solution made by dissolving some potassium chrome alum, KCrfSO s-12H20, in water. On testing, the solution is distinctly acidic. A currently accepted explanation of the observed acidity is based upon the assumption that, in water solution, chromic ion is associated with six H20 molecules in the complex ion, Cr(H20) a. This complex ion can act as a weak acid, dissociating to give a proton (or hydronium ion). Schematically, the dissociation can be represented as the transfer of a proton from one water molecule in the Cr(H20) 3 complex to a neighboring H20 to form a hydronium ion, H30+. Note that removal of a proton from an H20 bound to a Cr+3 leaves an OH- group at that position. The reaction is reversible and comes to equilibrium ... 

For very weak or slightly ionised electrolyes, the expression a2/( 1 — a) V = K reduces to a2 = KV or a = fKV, since a may be neglected in comparison with unity. Hence for any two weak acids or bases at a given dilution V (in L), we have a1 = y/K1 V and a2 = yjK2V, or ol1/ol2 = Jk1/ /K2. Expressed in words, for any two weak or slightly dissociated electrolytes at equal dilutions, the degrees of dissociation are proportional to the square roots of their ionisation constants. Some values for the dissociation constants at 25 °C for weak acids and bases are collected in Appendix 7. 

---