Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In chemistry, an acid dissociation constant (also known as acidity constant, or acid-ionization constant; denoted ) is a quantitative measure of the strength of an acid in solution. It is the equilibrium constant for a chemical reaction
The strength of a weak acid is quantified by its acid dissociation constant, value. The strength of a weak organic acid may depend on substituent effects. The strength of an inorganic acid is dependent on the oxidation state for the atom to which the proton may be attached. Acid strength is solvent-dependent.
A simple buffer solution consists of a solution of an acid and a salt of the conjugate base of the acid. For example, the acid may be acetic acid and the salt may be sodium acetate . The Henderson–Hasselbalch equation relates the pH of a solution containing a mixture of the two components to the acid dissociation constant , K a of the acid ...
The higher the proton affinity, the stronger the base and the weaker the conjugate acid in the gas phase.The (reportedly) strongest known base is the ortho-diethynylbenzene dianion (E pa = 1843 kJ/mol), [3] followed by the methanide anion (E pa = 1743 kJ/mol) and the hydride ion (E pa = 1675 kJ/mol), [4] making methane the weakest proton acid [5] in the gas phase, followed by dihydrogen.
The Brønsted equation is a free-energy relationship. The relationship implies that the Gibbs free energy for proton dissociation is proportional to the activation energy for the catalytic step. When the relationship is not linear, the chosen group of catalysts do not operate through the same reaction mechanism .
pK a values of amino acid side chains play an important role in defining the pH-dependent characteristics of a protein. The pH-dependence of the activity displayed by enzymes and the pH-dependence of protein stability, for example, are properties that are determined by the pK a values of amino acid side chains.
where log denotes a logarithm to base 10 or common logarithm, and K diss is a stepwise acid dissociation constant. For bases, the base association constant, pK b is used. For any given acid or base the two constants are related by pK a + pK b = pK w, so pK a can always be used in calculations.
In the case of citric acid, the overlap is extensive and solutions of citric acid are buffered over the whole range of pH 2.5 to 7.5. Calculation of the pH with a polyprotic acid requires a speciation calculation to be performed. In the case of citric acid, this entails the solution of the two equations of mass balance: