Proton-donating acidic solvents

The equilibrium constant for a reaction in which an acid donates a proton to the solvent (Vi). 

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. 

Weak acids, of which aqueous acetic acid is one example, cannot completely donate their acidic protons to the solvent. Instead, most of the acid remains undissociated, with only a small fraction present as the conjugate base. 

Protogenic solvents are acidic in nature and readily donate protons. Anhydrous acids such as hydrogen fluoride and sulphuric acid fall in this category because of their strength and ability to donate protons they enhance the strength of weak bases. 

In the Bronsted-Lowry theory, the strength of an acid depends on the extent to which it donates protons to the solvent. We can therefore summarize the distinction between strong and weak acids as follows ... 

When a solute is added to an acidic solvent it may become protonated by the solvent. If the solvent is water and the concentration of solute is not very great, then the pH of the solution is a good measure of the proton-donating ability of the solvent. Unfortunately, this is no longer true in concentrated solutions because activity coefficients are no longer unity. A measurement of solvent acidity is needed that works in concentrated solutions and applies to mixed solvents as well. The Hammett acidity function is a measurement that is used for acidic solvents of high dielectric constant. For any solvent, including mixtures of solvents (but the proportions of the mixture must be specified), a value Hq is defined as... 

Of greatest interest among the protic solvents are liquid ammonia (where solutions with a very low freezing point can be prepared) and anhydrous (glacial) acetic acid (which has a high proton-donating power). 

The a scale of hydrogen bond donor acidities measures the ability of a solvent to donate a proton in a solvent-solute hydrogen bond,... 

Comparison of reactions 4.9, 4.10, 4.12, 4.13 and 4.15 leads to another important conclusion, viz., in an amphiprotic solvent its own solvonium cation represents the strongest acid possible, and its own anion the strongest base. Even when a very strong foreign acid or base is dissolved, excessive proton donation to and proton abstraction from the solvent molecule yield the respective acid or base this phenomenon is generally known as the levelling effect, which in an amphiprotic solvent takes place on both the acid and the basic... 

TN was increased by the presence of the general acid. These observations suggested that H2O serves to donate the protons required to form product H2O2. Values of Km and TN for the zinc-deficient enzyme were found to be approximately a factor of two less than those obtained for the holoenzyme under identical experimental conditions, whereas TN/Xm was largely unchanged. The authors concluded that the imidazolate bridge is thus not essential for catalytically competent extraction of a proton from the solvent by CuZnSOD. 

Water enhances the acidic or basic properties of dissolved substances, as water itself can act as either an acid or a base. For example, when hydrogen chloride (HCl) is in aqueous solution, it donates protons to the solvent (1). This results in the formation of chloride ions (Cr) and protonated water molecules (hydronium ions, H3O+, usually simply referred to as H" ). The proton exchange between HCl and water is virtually quantitative in water, HCl behaves as a very strong acid with a negative pl

With reference to a solvent, this term is usually restricted to Brpnsted acids. If the solvent is water, the pH value of the solution is a good measure of the proton-donating ability of the solvent, provided that the concentration of the solute is not too high. For concentrated solutions or for mixtures of solvents, the acidity of the solvent is best indicated by use of an acidity function. See Degree of Dissociation Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation Acid-Base Equilibrium Constants Bronsted Theory Lewis Acid Acidity Function Leveling Effect... 

For the non-aqueous titration of weak acids a solvent such as an alcohol or an aprotic, solvent is used that does not compete strongly with the weak acid for proton donation. Typical titrants are lithium methoxide in methanol or tetrabutyl ammonium hydroxide in dimethylformamide. End-point detection may be carried out with thymol blue as an indicator or potentiomctrically (see p. 65). 

Organic solvents can also be classified according to their ability to accept or transfer protons (i.e., their acid-base behavior) [20,21]. Amphiprotic solvents possess donor as well as acceptor capabilities and can undergo autoprotolysis. They can be subdivided into neutral solvents that possess approximately equal donor and acceptor capabilities (water and alcohols), acidic solvents with predominantly proton donor properties (acetic acid, formic acid), and basic solvents with primarily proton acceptor characteristics (formamide, N-methylformamide, and N,N-dimethylformamide). Aprotic solvents are not capable of autoprotolysis but may be able to accept protons (ACN, DMSO, propylene carbonate). Inert solvents (hexane) neither accept nor donate protons nor are they capable of autoprotolysis. 

ACIDIC SOLVENT, A solvent which is strongly protogenic, i.e., which has a strong tendency to donate protons and little tendency to accept them. Liquid hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride are acidic solvents, and in them even such normally strong acids as nitric acid do not exhibit acidic properties, since there are no molecules that can accept protons but, on the contrary, behave to some extent as bases by accepting protons yielded by the dissociation of the HQ or the HF. See Acids and Bases. 

Protophillic H-bond donor solvents solvents such as amides, amines or and other compounds with at least one N—II bond, which may be shared or donated. These solvents also have a highly basic character in the Bronsted sense i.e., they have a likelihood of accepting a free proton or a proton from a proton donor molecule (protophillic). These solvents also show high electron donor and acceptor properties (basic and acidic in the Lewis sense). 

Acidity constants always compare the acidity of a proton donator with the basicity of the solvent. Therefore, only acidity constants relating to the same solvent can be compared [iii, iv]. The acidity constant strongly depends on the dielectric constant of the solvent and solvent-solute interaction parameters. About relations between the acidity constants of one acid in different solvents see reference [v]. 

This representation is over-simplified, each of the ions being further solvated in each acid. Autoprotolysis constants have been reported as 3 x 10 13 mol2 kg-2 (0°C) for HF[6], 3.8 x 10 8 (25°C) for HS03F[7] and 7.9 x 1(T7 (25°C) for CF3S03H[8]. Protonic media are made more acidic by addition of an entity which increases the proton concentration. Superacids are themselves so very weakly basic that very few, if any, compounds can act as Bronsted acids to donate protons to the solvent directly. Lewis acids combine with X- to shift the autoprotolysis equilibria to increase the proton concentration. Superacids are rendered basic by direct addition of the X species, the base of the system, (e.g. from an alkali metal compound MX) or by addition of compounds which accept protons from the medium, increasing the concentration of the base X. ... 

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