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+ Nitric acid
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Nrusinha Kar

What is the reaction steps in H2So4 and HNO3?

Avun Jahei  Follow

When either or both of the acids are dilute, there will be no effective interaction between the two. Both the acids ionise on their own and you only get a homogeneous mixture (clear solution) containing the hydronium, bisulphate and nitrate ions (H3O+, HSO4- and NO3-).

But when concentrated sulphuric acid is mixed with concentrated nitric acid, the latter acts as a proton acceptor (base) and the former a proton donor (acid)!

H2SO4 + HNO3 = HSO4(-) + H2NO3(+)

This interaction clearly shows that sulphuric acid is the stronger acid between the two strong acids.

H2NO3(+) further dissociates into H2O and the nitronium ion, NO2(+). The overall equation is usually represented as given below.

H2SO4 + HNO3 = HSO4(-) + NO2(+) + H2O

A mixture of conc.HNO3 and conc.H2SO4 (nitration mixture) is usually used in the nitration of aromatic organic compounds as because the latter helps easy generation of nitronium ions by acting as a proton donor.

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Charles Wardrop  Follow

I assume that you are making a nitrating mixture, i.e. the acid mixture gives you LINEAR [math]NO_{2}^{+}[/math] ion…i.e. [math]ext{nitronium ion}[/math].

And we can formalize this by an acid-base reaction, in which nitric acid is the BASE, that is protonated by the stronger sulfuric acid…

[math]HO-stackrel{+}N(=O)O^{-} +H_{2}SO_{4} → HO-stackrel{+}N(=O)OH + HSO_{4}^{-}[/math]

And PROTONATED nitric acid eliminates water according to the reaction…

[math]HO-stackrel{+}N(=O)OH → O=stackrel{+}N=O +H_{2}O[/math]

And nitronium ion is a potent electrophile, which is why we use the nitrating mixture to nitrate aromatics…

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