CHEM 1311 Problem Set 8 Acids and bases

1) Pick from each of the following groups of Bronsted acids the one with the
smallest pKa.

a) HOBr, HOCl, HOF, HOH

b)
O
O O F
Br F OH
OH OH F

c)

O O O
HO S OH F S OH Cl S OH
O O O

2) Which of the species in each of the following groups is most basic?

a) H2SO4, HSO4-, SO42-

b) H3PO4, PO43-, HPO42-, H2PO4-

3) The pKa for an acid with the chemical formula H3O3P is measured to be 1.8.
Which of the following structures is likely to be correct?

OH O
P H P OH
OH
a) OH b) OH
4) For each of the following groups of compounds identify which salt would give the
most acidic solution when dissolved in water to give a 1M solution.

a) LiNO3, Al(NO3)3, Ba(NO3)3

b) Fe(NO3)3, Fe(NO3)2, LiNO3

c) TlNO3, KNO3, RbNO3

5) Identify all the species in the following list that are capable of acting as Lewis
bases

H2O, NH2CH3, F-, HO-, CN-, CH3OCH3

6) For each of the following Lewis acid - Lewis base reactions identify which
reactant is the acid and which is the base.

a) AlCl3 + Cl-
AlCl4-

b) I2 + I-
I3-

c) SO2 + H2O
H2SO3

d) CO2 + OH-
HCO3-

e) SbCl5 + Cl-
SbCl6-

f) H2O + H+
H3O+

g) BF3 + NH3
F3BNH3

 7) Draw a MO energy level diagram for the bromine molecule (Br2) (show all MOs
resulting from valence orbitals on the bromine atoms) and identify which
molecular orbital in the bromine molecule is primarily involved in the acid base
reaction Br2 + Br-
Br3-

8) Using hard-soft acid base principles determine if the equilibrium constants for the
following reactions will be greater than or less than 1. Assume that all the
reactions are done in water.

a) AgF + NaI == AgI + NaF

b) BaI2 + PbCl2 == BaCl2 + PbI2

c) CH3HgF + NaBr == CH3HgBr + NaF