Generalization of Acid-Base Diagrams Based on the Unified pH-Scale.

Abstract

So far, pH‐lgc i diagrams have been exclusively used for the theoretical description of acid‐base equilibria in aqueous solutions. Here, this approach is extended to include acid‐base equilibria in nonaqueous non‐hydrogen‐bond‐donor (non‐HBD) solvents following the acid‐base theory of Brønsted and Lowry, and using a unified pH scale (pHabs scale). This way, it is possible to estimate the approximate concentrations of all the species involved in acid‐base equilibria in a solution at any solution acidity pH(HS) , and vice versa. The diagrams are excellent to illustrate the differences in behavior of species involved in the solution equilibria in different solvents, for example, an aqueous solution of acetic acid is an acidic solution; however, the same concentration of acetic acid in DMSO has a pHabsH2O value of about 10.6, that is, it is a basic solution with reference to the aqueous pH scale.