Ionization equilibrium, counterion effect

The ketone is added to a large excess of a strong base at low temperature, usually LDA in THF at -78 °C. The more acidic and less sterically hindered proton is removed in a kineti-cally controlled reaction. The equilibrium with a thermodynamically more stable enolate (generally the one which is more stabilized by substituents) is only reached very slowly (H.O. House, 1977), and the kinetic enolates may be trapped and isolated as silyl enol ethers (J.K. Rasmussen, 1977 H.O. House, 1969). If, on the other hand, a weak acid is added to the solution, e.g. an excess of the non-ionized ketone or a non-nucleophilic alcohol such as cert-butanol, then the tautomeric enolate is preferentially formed (stabilized mostly by hyperconjugation effects). The rate of approach to equilibrium is particularly slow with lithium as the counterion and much faster with potassium or sodium. 

The solubility measure describes the concentration reached in solution, when a pure phase of the material is allowed to dissolve in the solvent for a defined period of time, at a defined temperature (and pressure). Most often for pharmaceutical purposes, the pure phase is a solid, ideally a crystalline solid, and the liquid is water or a buffered aqueous solution, at a controlled temperature (often 25 or 37 °C) and ambient pressure. The purity of the solid can have a large effect on measured solubility. Solubility can be measured in water or in pH-controlled buffers. In water, the extent of solubility for ionizable compounds will depend upon the p fCa values and the nature of the counterion. In pH-controlled aqueous buffered solution, at equilibrium, the solubility will depend upon the compound s intrinsic solubility, its plQ, and the ionic strength. It may also depend upon the relative solubility of the initial added compound and the solubility of the salt formed by the compound with the buffer salts, with which the solid may equilibrate. In any buffer or solvent system, the measured solubility may depend on the time of sampling, as solubility kinetics... 

Thus the concentration of anion A in an elution peak reduces the benzoate concentration by an equivalent amount. However, the eluent equilibrium is dynamic, and it is always 20 % ionized. This means that 80 % of the hydrogen and benzoate ions in the exchange reaction come from molecular benzoic acid and are converted into highly ionized H A. This effect enhances the detection sensitivity considerably because the counterion of the A has an unusually high equivalent conductance. A discussion of the phenomenon is given in Section 6.3.3.6. 

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