Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Water: The
Solvent for
Biochemical
Reactions
2003 Thomson Learning, Inc.
All rights reserved
2-1
2 The Polar Nature of Water
Given the difference in electronegativity between
oxygen and hydrogen (3.5 - 2.1 = 1.4) and its
shape, water is a polar molecule with a dipole
moment of 1.85D
the net charge on oxygen is -0.66 and that on each
hydrogen is +0.33
-0.66
-
+ O +
H H
+0.33 +0.33
- an irregular, slightly
skewed tetrahedron
2003 Thomson Learning, Inc.
All rights reserved
2-3
2 Electronegativity
Electronegativity: a measure of the force of an
atoms attraction for electrons it shares in a
chemical bond with another atom
on Paulings scale, fluorine, the most electronegative
element, is assigned a value of 4.0
H
2.1
1A 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A
Li Be B C N O F
1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Na Mg Al Si P S Cl
0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.2 2.6 3.0
O= C= O
Type of Energy
Bond Example kJmol -1 kcalmol -1
Hydrophilic Hydrophobic
Polar covalent compounds Nonpolar covalent compounds
such as low-molecular-weight such as hydrocarbons (e.g.,
alcohols (e.g., ethanol) and hexane and toluene)
ketones (e.g., acetone)
pH = - log [H+]
-
H2 O OH + H+
+ - + -
Ka = [ H ] [ OH ] = [ H ] [ OH ]
[ H 2 O] 55.5
Kw = Ka x 5 5 . 5 = [ H + ] [ OH - ]
Kw = 10 -14
pKa = - log K a
[Conjugate base]
-log [H + ] = -log K a + log
[Weak acid]
HPO 4 2 -
Buffer
region
pH = pK a + 1
7.2 = pK a
pH = pK a - 1
[ H 2 PO 4 - ] = [ HPO 4 2 - ]
H2 PO 4 -
% H2 PO 4 - 100 90 50 10 0
% HPO 4 2 - 0 10 50 90 100
Titration
Curve for
Acetic acid
pH [Base]/[Conjugate Acid]
pK a -3 1/1000
pK a -2 1/100
pK a -1 1/10
effective
pK a 1/1 buffer
pK a +1 10/1 range
pK a +2 100/1
pK a +3 1000/1
2003 Thomson Learning, Inc.
All rights reserved
2-63
2
Buffer Capacity
Buffer capacity is related to the concentrations of
the weak acid and its conjugate base
the greater the concentration of the weak acid and its
conjugate base, the greater the buffer capacity
CO 2 ( aq ) + H2 O( l) H2 CO 3 ( a q)
H2 CO 3 ( a q) H+ ( a q) + HCO 3 - ( a q)
CO 2 ( g) + H2 O( l) H+ ( a q) + HCO 3 - ( a q)