Solution chemistry equilibrium constants

Flash photolysis has contributed much to our understanding of enol chemistry in aqueous solution. The equilibrium constant for the enolization of simple ketones, = C enoi/c ketonc is usually too small permit a direct determination of enol concentrations cenoi at equilibrium. For example, the enolization constant of acetone is pk) 8.3 the relative amount of 2-hydroxypropene is thus only 5 ppb in aqueous solution. Nevertheless, most reactions of carbonyl compounds proceed via enol intermediates, which, once... 

Analytical chemistry is inherently a quantitative science. Whether determining the concentration of a species in a solution, evaluating an equilibrium constant, measuring a reaction rate, or drawing a correlation between a compound s structure and its reactivity, analytical chemists make measurements and perform calculations. In this section we briefly review several important topics involving the use of numbers in analytical chemistry. 

Classical thermodynamics gives an expression that relates the equilibrium constant (the distribution coefficient (K)) to the change in free energy of a solute when transferring from one phase to the other. The derivation of this relationship is fairly straightforward, but will not be given here, as it is well explained in virtually all books on classical physical chemistry [1,2]. 

In this generalized equation, (75), we see that again the numerator is the product of the equilibrium concentrations of the substances formed, each raised to the power equal to the number of moles of that substance in the chemical equation. The denominator is again the product of the equilibrium concentrations of the reacting substances, each raised to a power equal to the number of moles of the substance in the chemical equation. The quotient of these two remains constant. The constant K is called the equilibrium constant. This generalization is one of the most useful in all of chemistry. From the equation for any chemical reaction one can immediately write an expression, in terms of the concentrations of reactants and products, that will be constant at any given temperature. If this constant is measured (by measuring all of the concentrations in a particular equilibrium solution), then it can be used in calculations for any other equilibrium solution at that same temperature. 

Equilibrium conditions are determined by the chemical reactions that occur in a system. Consequently, it is necessary to analyze the chemistry of the system before doing any calculations. After the chemistry is known, a mathematical solution to the problem can be developed. We can modify the seven-step approach to problem solving so that it applies specifically to equilibrium problems, proceeding from the chemistry to the equilibrium constant expression to the mathematical solution. 

Because the two equilibrium constant expressions have similar magnitudes, a solution of the silver-ammonia complex generally has a significant concentration of each of the species that participate in the equilibria. The details of such calculations are beyond the scope of general chemistry. When the solution contains a large excess of ligand, however, each step in the complexation process proceeds nearly to completion. Under these conditions we can apply the standard seven-step approach to a single expression that describes the formation reaction of the complete complex. 

Halides other than fluoride form very weak complexes in aqueous solution there are no reliable equilibrium constants to be found in the literature. The solution chemistry of aqueous solutions of beryllium chloride, bromide, and iodide have been reviewed previously (9). Some evidence for the formation of thiocyanate complexes was obtained in solvent extraction studies (134). 

Pyridinecarboxaldehyde, 3. Possible hydration of the aldehyde group makes the aqueous solution chemistry of 3 potentially more complex and interesting than the other compounds. Hydration is less extensive with 3 than 4-pyridinecarboxaldehyde but upon protonation, about 80% will exist as the hydrate (gem-diol). The calculated distribution of species as a function of pH is given in Figure 4 based on the equilibrium constants determined by Laviron (9). 

One of the most basic requirements in analytical chemistry is the ability to make up solutions to the required strength, and to be able to interpret the various ways of defining concentration in solution and solids. For solution-based methods, it is vital to be able to accurately prepare known-strength solutions in order to calibrate analytical instruments. By way of background to this, we introduce some elementary chemical thermodynamics - the equilibrium constant of a reversible reaction, and the solubility and solubility product of compounds. More information, and considerably more detail, on this topic can be found in Garrels and Christ (1965), as well as many more recent geochemistry texts. We then give some worked examples to show how... 

Like all chemical equations, this one has an equilibrium constant. The discussion of basic chemistry is outside the purview of this book. Readers who may need a refresher are referred to Tse and Jaffe (1991). For every chemical, a pKa can be calculated, based on its equilibrium constant, which represents the proportion of ionized and unionized material in solution. The lower the pKa of a chemical, the more likely it is to be nonionized in the stomach. 

We illustrate the nomenclature introduced above in an example taken from coordination chemistry. In fact, equilibrium species of interesting complexity are commonly encountered in coordination chemistry and to a large extent coordination chemists have developed the principles of equilibrium studies. Consider the interaction of a metal ion M (e.g. Cu2+) with a bidentate ligand L (e.g. ethylenediamine, en) in aqueous solution. For work in aqueous solution the pH also plays an important role and thus, the proton concentration H (=[ff+]), as well as several differently protonated species, need to be taken into account. Using the nomenclature commonly employed in coordination chemistry, there are three components, M, L, and H. In aqueous solution they interact to form the following species, HL, H2L, ML, Mia, ML3, MLH, MLH1 and OH. (In fact, more species are formed, e.g. ML2H 1, but the above selection will suffice now.) The water molecules are usually not defined as additional components. The concentration of water is constant and its value is taken into the equilibrium constants. 

You learned about acids and bases in your previous chemistry course. In this chapter, you will extend your knowledge to learn how the structure of a compound determines whether it is an acid or a base. You will use the equilibrium constant of the reaction of an acid or base with water to determine whether the acid or base is strong or weak. You will apply your understanding of dissociation and pH to investigate buffer solutions solutions that resist changes in pH. Finally, you will examine acid-base titrations that involve combinations of strong and weak acids and bases. 

Many different types of reversible reactions exist in chemistry, and for each of these an equilibrium constant can be defined. The basic principles of this chapter apply to all equilibrium constants. The different types of equilibrium are generally denoted using an appropriate subscript. The equilibrium constant for general solution reactions is signified as or K, where the c indicates equilibrium concentrations are used in the law of mass action. When reactions involve gases, partial pressures are often used instead of concentrations, and the equilibrium constant is reported as (p indicates that the constant is based on partial pressures). and are used for equilibria associated with acids and bases, respectively. The equilibrium of water with the hydrogen and hydroxide ions is expressed as K. The equilibrium constant used with the solubility of ionic compounds is K p. Several of these different K expres-... 

As usual, square brackets indicate the molar concentration of the substance within the brackets (hence the subscript c for "concentration" in Kc). The substances in the equilibrium constant expression may be gases or molecules and ions in solutions. The equilibrium equation is also known as the law of mass action because in the early days of chemistry, concentration was called "active mass."... 

Carbonate equilibria in an open system. What is the pH of water in equilibrium with atmospheric C02 gas To answer such a question involves a knowledge of acid-base chemistry, the use of Henry s Law constant for the solubility of carbon dioxide and the use of the ENE to calculate the proton concentration of the equilibrium solution. The details of the equilibrium constants used are detailed below. 

The measurement of equilibrium constants is a crucial aspect in lanthanide and actinide chemistry. Several techniques are available for such determination (spectrophotometry, potentiom-etry, solvent extraction, electrospray mass-spectrometry,. ..), among which TRES is commonly used in the case of reaction studies of luminescent lanthanides with organic ligands (Richardson, 1982 Parker and Williams, 1996). The high sensitivity of TRES (see sect. 6) allows quantitative measurements of very dilute solutions, which facilitates the handling of highly radioactive materials such as Cm. 

Because K, depends on concentrations and the product KyKx is concentration independent, Kx must also depend on concentration. This shows that the simple equilibrium calculations usually carried out in first courses in chemistry are approximations. Actually such calculations are often rather poor approximations when applied to solutions of ionic species, where deviations from ideality are quite large. We shall see that calculations using Eq. (47) can present some computational difficulties. Concentrations are needed in order to obtain activity coefficients, but activity coefficients are needed before an equilibrium constant for calculating concentrations can be obtained. Such problems are usually handled by the method of successive approximations, whereby concentrations are initially calculated assuming ideal behavior and these concentrations are used for a first estimate of activity coefficients, which are then used for a better estimate of concentrations, and so forth. A G is calculated with the standard state used to define the activity. If molality-based activity coefficients are used, the relevant equation is... 

From Eqn. (14) it follows that with an exothermic reaction - and this is the case for most reactions in reactive absorption processes - decreases with increasing temperature. The electrolyte solution chemistry involves a variety of chemical reactions in the liquid phase, for example, complete dissociation of strong electrolytes, partial dissociation of weak electrolytes, reactions among ionic species, and complex ion formation. These reactions occur very rapidly, and hence, chemical equilibrium conditions are often assumed. Therefore, for electrolyte systems, chemical equilibrium calculations are of special importance. Concentration or activity-based reaction equilibrium constants as functions of temperature can be found in the literature [50]. 

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