Strong acid-base functionality

The most widely used catalysts for acid-catalyzed aldol condensations are the molecular sieve zeolites, for example, crystalline aluminosilicates of group I and II elements, in which the latter have been replaced by protons. The surface protons confer Br0nsted acidity. Among the acidic zeolites we can mention HZSM-5 (pentasil zeolite), HY (faujasite), or HM (mordenite). Recently, polystyrene-supported sulfonic acids such as those of the macroreticular strongly acidic cation-exchange resins (59) and acid-base functionalized mesoporous materials such as amine and sulfonic acid-containing SBA-15 (60) have been shown to promote the acid-catalyzed aldol condensation of aldehydes with ketones at low temperatures. 

In fuel cells, a membrane serves as an ionic conducting electrolyte, an interfacial environment for electrode reactions, an effective reactant separator, and a support for catalysts/electrodes. It is therefore essential that such a membrane exhibits, among other properties, optimized gas permeability. For this purpose, dense FBI membranes are prepared by solution casting. FBI dissolves in strong acids, bases, and a few organic solvents and membranes can be cast from their solutions accordingly. As the membranes are used in an acid-functionalized form to achieve proton conductivities. 

This is an acid-base reaction, in which the base is the oxide ion (p. 89) the acidic oxide SiOj displaces the weaker acidic oxide CO2 in the fused mixture. But in aqueous solution, where the 0 ion cannot function as a strong basefp. 89),carbon dioxide displaces silica, which, therefore, precipitates when the gas is passed through the aqueous silicate solution. In a fused mixture of silica and a nitrate or phosphate, the silica again displaces the weaker acidic oxides N2O5 and P4OJ0 ... 

Ion-exchange resins are categorized by the nature of functional groups attached to a polymeric matrix, by the chemistry of the particular polymer in the matrix, and by the porosity of the polymeric matrix. There are four primary types of functionaHty strong acid, weak acid, strong base, and weak base. Another type consists of less common stmctures in specialty resins such as those which have chelating characteristics. 

Weak Base. Weak base anion-exchange resins may have primary, secondary, or tertiary amines as the functional group. The tertiary amine -N(CH2)2 is most common. Weak base resins are frequentiy preferred over strong base resins for removal of strong acids in order to take advantage of the greater ease in regeneration. 

Strong acids or bases catalyze the hydrolysis of 2-pyrrohdinone to 4-aminobutanoic acid [y-aminobutyric acid [56-12-2] (GABA)]. GABA is involved in the functioning of the brain and nervous system and is of considerable interest as a potential dietary supplement (60). 

The kinetics of reactions cataly2ed by very strong acids are often compHcated. The exact nature of the proton donor species is often not known, and typically the rate of the catalytic reaction does not have a simple dependence on the total concentration of the acid. However, sometimes there is a simple dependence of the catalytic reaction rate on some empirical measure of the acid strength of the solution, such as the Hammett acidity function Hq, which is a measure of the tendency of the solution to donate a proton to a neutral base. Sometimes the rate is proportional to (—log/ig)- Such a dependence may be expected when the slow step in the catalytic cycle is the donation of a proton by the solution to a neutral reactant, ie, base but it is not easy to predict when such a dependence may be found. 

As noted earlier, ion-exchange materials are grouped into four specific classifications depending on the functional group attached strong-acid cation, strong-base anion, weak-acid cation, or weak-base anion.. In addition to these, we also have inert resins that do not have chemical properties. 

Ho, the acidity function introduced by Hammett, is a measure of the ability of the solvent to transfer a proton to a base of neutral charge. In dilute aqueous solution ho becomes equal to t d Hq is equal to pH, but in strongly acid solutions Hq will differ from both pH and — log ch+. The determination of Ho is accomplished with the aid of Eq. (8-89) and a series of neutral indicator bases (the nitroanilines in Table 8-18) whose pA bh+ values have been measured by the overlap method. Table 8-19 lists Ho values for some aqueous solutions of common mineral acids. Analogous acidity functions have been defined for bases of other structural and charge types, such as // for amides and Hf for bases that ionize with the production of a carbocation ... 

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