Chemical Forums

Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: positron99 on October 14, 2021, 04:19:09 AM

Title: proton transfer in pure EtOH
Post by: positron99 on October 14, 2021, 04:19:09 AM

Hello, I have a hard time finding an answer to this question. Maybe someone can help me out here :)

Question: Is "H jumping" or autoionization present in pure ethanol and other organic solvents like it is in water? Are there any H+ present in pure ethanol? Can they get released if you apply some + voltage to the solution with an electrode? Also, if you put a carbohydrate (lets say some polar carbohydrate with few benzene rings) in pure ethanol and it gets dissolved, does that mean that H+ got released into the solution (from ...C-H on the ring for example)? 

More specifically, is it possible that H+ got attached to ...C-C-O(-) part of the dissolved molecule in pure EtOH, if so --> where is it from?

Thank you :)

Title: Re: proton transfer in pure EtOH
Post by: Borek on October 14, 2021, 08:08:03 AM

For the reaction

2C₂H₅OH :lequil: C₂H₅O^- + C₂H₅OH₂⁺

equilibrium constant is somewhere in the 10^-20 range. Does it help?