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Chemistry Forums for Students => Organic Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Zensation on May 07, 2014, 10:37:56 PM

Title: Is there a way to calculate the equilibrium ratio of different enolates in sol?
Post by: Zensation on May 07, 2014, 10:37:56 PM
I was going over an enolate review and it says that if there are two compounds with different acidities in the presence of a base such as hydroxide, then there will be a higher concentration of the enolate with the lower pka / higher acidity when equilibrium is reached.

Is there a way to calculate this equilibrium ratio if the pkas are known? Say one compound has a pka of 20 and the other one has a pka of 27. Is there a way to calculate the approximate ratio of the enolates that will form?

I know that for each value of pka increase, the acidity increases by exponential factors of 10^x, but I've no idea how to calculate a ratio off of this.