Successive acid-dissociation constants

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, H4Y, is a tetraprotic weak acid with successive acid dissociation constants of 0.010,... 

The standard notation for successive acid dissociation constants of a polyprotic acid is Kt, K2, K2, and so on, with the subscript a usually omitted. We retain or omit the subscript as dictated by clarity. For successive base hydrolysis constants, we retain the subscript b. The preceding examples illustrate that Kal (or K ) refers to the acidic species with the most protons, and Kbl refers to the basic species with the least number of protons. Carbonic acid, a very important diprotic carboxylic acid derived from COz, is described in Box 6-4. 

The definition of pH is pH = —log[H+] (which will be modified to include activity later). Ka is the equilibrium constant for the dissociation of an acid HA + H20 H30+ + A-. Kb is the base hydrolysis constant for the reaction B + H20 BH+ + OH. When either Ka or Kb is large, the acid or base is said to be strong otherwise, the acid or base is weak. Common strong acids and bases are listed in Table 6-2, which you should memorize. The most common weak acids are carboxylic acids (RC02H), and the most common weak bases are amines (R3N ). Carboxylate anions (RC02) are weak bases, and ammonium ions (R3NH+) are weak acids. Metal cations also are weak acids. For a conjugate acid-base pair in water, Ka- Kb = Kw. For polyprotic acids, we denote the successive acid dissociation constants as Kal, K, K, , or just Aj, K2, A"3, . For polybasic species, we denote successive hydrolysis constants Kbi, Kb2, A"h3, . For a diprotic system, the relations between successive acid and base equilibrium constants are Afa Kb2 — Kw and K.a Kbl = A w. For a triprotic system the relations are A al KM = ATW, K.d2 Kb2 = ATW, and Ka2 Kb, = Kw. 

It was shown many years ago by Niels Bjerrum that the ratios of successive acid dissociation constants could be accounted for in a nearly quantitative way by electrostatic considerations. Consider any bifunctional add HXH ... 

The successive acid-dissociation constants of a polyprotic acid are often labeled K. 2 etc. Provided the second reaction... 

Values for the successive acid-dissociation constants for several polyprotic acids are given in Appendix IV. 

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