THEORIES OF ACID BASE

INDICATORS
NEUTRALIZATION REACTIONS
• Acid is a substance which can accept an electron
ACID pair or donate a proton.
• Base is a substance which can donate an electron
BASE pair or accept a proton.

• The titration of the solution of a acidwith the

Alkalimetry standard base solution is called Alkalimetry.
Na2CO3 + 2HCl 2NaCl + H2O + CO2( )

• The titration of solution of the base with the

standard acid solution is called Acidimetry.
Acidimetry NaHCO3 + HCl NaCl + H2O + CO2( )
 TERMINOLOGIES USED IN
TITRATION
Titrant: solution of a known concentration, which is added to
another solution whose concentration, has to be determined.
Titrand or analyte: the solution whose concentration has to be
determined.
Equivalence point: point in titration at which the amount of
titrant added is just enough to completely neutralize the analyte
solution.
At the equivalence point in an acid-base titration,
moles of base = moles of acid
and the solution only contains salt and water.
 Chemical dyes whose colors are affected
INDICATORS by acidic and basic solutions are called
acid-base indicators.
An indicator is a weak acid or base that
is added to the analyte solution, and it
changes color when the equivalence
point is reached i.e. the point at which
the amount of titrant added is just enough
to completely neutralize the analyte
solution.
The point at which the indicator changes
color is called the endpoint.
NEUTRALIZATION INDICATORS
In Acid-Base titrations there is a change in pH value.
Substances which change color in accordance with pH are used as neutralization
indicators.
They include litmus, methyl orange, methyl red, phenol red, phenolphthalein etc.
The color of each of these changes over a definite narrow range of pH .
This range depends only on the properties of the given indicator and is
independent of the nature of the reacting acids and bases.
THEORIES OF ACID BASE INDICATORS

Ostwald’s theory
Quinonoid theory
OSTWALD’S THEORY

• The color change of any indicator is due to its ionization.

• The unionized form of indicator has different color than its ionized form.
Common-ion effect:
• If an indicator is a weak acid, its ionization would be very much low in acids
due to common H+ ions while it is fairly ionized in alkalis.
• In the same way, if the indicator is a weak base, its ionization is large in acids
and low in alkalis due to common OH- ions.
PHENOLPHTHALEIN INDICATOR

Represent as HPh is a weak acid.

Undissociated form – colorless.
Ionized (Ph- ion) form – pink color.
It is a weak acid, its ionization would be very much low in acids due to common H+
ions while it is fairly ionized in alkalis.
METHYL ORANGE INDICATOR

Represent as MeOH is a weak base.

Undissociated form – Yellow.
Ionised (Me+ ion) form –– Red colour.
It is a weak base, its ionization is large in acids and low in alkalis due to
common OH- ions.
 QUINONOID THEORY:
According to quinonoid theory, an acid-base indicators exist in two
forms.
One form is termed benzenoid form and the other quinonoid form.
The two forms have different colors. The color change is due to the
interconversion of one form into other.
One form mainly exists in acidic medium and the other in alkaline
medium.
PHENOLPHTHALEIN

Phenolphthalein has benziod form in acidic medium and thus, it is colorless

while it has quinonoid form in alkaline medium which has pink color.
METHYL ORANGE
Methyl orange has quinonoid form in acidic solution and benzenoid form in
alkaline solution.
The color of benzenoid form is yellow while that of quinonoid form is red.