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Ionization of carbon acids in liquid ammonia
Pengju Ji1, Nicholas T Powles, John H Atherton
1IPOS, The Page Laboratories, Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
The acidities of various carbon acids in liquid ammonia (LNH(3)) at room temperature were determined by NMR and rates of D-exchange. There is a reasonable linear correlation of the pK(a)s in LNH(3) with those in water and DMSO of slope 0.7 and 0.8, respectively. Carbon acids with an aqueous pK(a) of less than 12 are fully ionized in liquid ammonia. Nucleophilic substitution of benzyl chloride by carbanions in liquid ammonia generates a Brønsted β(nuc) = 0.38.
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