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Khari Slaughter

Why does picric acid have a pKa of 0.38?

Donald Hubbs  Follow

Consider the nitro-substitution of picric acid … [math]ext{2,4,6-trinitrophenol}[/math]….

Each nitro group may be represented as [math]-stackrel{+}N(=O)O^{-}[/math], and the so-called [math]ext{quaternized}[/math] nitrogen centre is VERY effective at distributing the negative charge of the picrate, i.e. the conjugate base of picric acid…

And thus the [math]pK_{a}[/math] of the parent acid is DEPRESSED….

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David Adam Suddit  Follow

Those nitro groups really suck up the electrons.

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