Polyprotic Acids

David Du
BIALIGY.com

March 2020

§1 Introduction
Polyprotic acids are acids that can donate more than one proton. Some examples of polyprotic acids are

Example §1.0.1

1. H2 SO4

2. H2 SO3

3. H3 P O4

4. H2 CO3

Let’s look at the Ka of H3 P O4 each of the following protons.

+ −
H3 PO4 −)−
−*
− H + H2 PO4 : Ka1
H2 PO4 − −
)−
−* + 2−
− H + HPO4 : Ka2
HPO4 2− )
−−
−* + 3−
− H + PO4 : Ka3

We see we have the following

1. Ka1 = 7.1 × 10−3

2. Ka2 = 6.3 × 10−8

3. Ka3 = 4.2 × 10−13

In general we see that Kan > Kam if n < m. This means that with each protons removed, they are
less acidic as it is harder to remove them. Yet, they still all exist in fractional concentrations. What’s
special about polyprotic acids is that in a titration curve there is more than one equivalence point. Which
is shown below.

1
Polyprotic Acids BIALIGY.COM David Du

Figure 1: H3 P O4 Titration Curve