Chemistry:Hypohalous acid
A hypohalous acid is an oxyacid consisting of a hydroxyl group single-bonded to any halogen. Examples include hypofluorous acid, hypochlorous acid, hypobromous acid, and hypoiodous acid. The conjugate base is a hypohalite. They can be formed by reacting the corresponding diatomic halogen molecule (F
2, Cl
2, Br
2, I
2) with water in the reaction:
- X
2 + H
2O ⇌ HXO + HX
This also results in the corresponding hydrogen halide, which is also acidic. A pseudohalogen would instead generate a hypopseudohalous acid.
It is uncertain that whether hypoastatous acid (AtOH), the hypohalous acid for astatine, is more similar to other hypohalous acids or to metal hydroxides.[1]
Stability
Hypohalous acids tend to be unstable. Only hypofluorous acid has been isolated as a solid, and even it is explosive at room temperature.[2] Hypochlorous acid cannot be prepared in anhydrous form.[3] Hypobromous acid, hypoiodous acid, and their conjugate bases (hypobromite and hypoiodite) are also unstable, undergoing disproportionation reactions like
and
that result in the corresponding hydrogen halides/halide ions and halic acids/halates.[4]
Uses
Hypochlorous acid and hypobromous acid are each dissolved in water to sanitize it, hypochlorous acid in swimming pools and hypobromous acid in hot tubs and spas.[5]
Acidity
Hypohalous acids tend to be weak acids, and they typically get weaker as the halogen progresses further down the periodic table. Hypochlorous acid has a pKa of 7.53.[6] The pKa values of hypobromous acid is higher (meaning that it is an even weaker acid),[7] at 8.65. The pKa of hypoiodous acid is even higher, at 10.6.
Biology
References
- ↑ Chiera, Nadine Mariel (2025-03-19). "Observation of a volatile astatine hydroxide species in online gas-adsorption thermochromatography experiments". Molecular Physics 123 (5-6). doi:10.1080/00268976.2023.2272685. ISSN 0026-8976.
- ↑ W. Poll; G. Pawelke; D. Mootz; E. H. Appelman (1988). "The Crystal Structure of Hypofluorous Acid : Chain Formation by O−H···O Hydrogen Bonds". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 27 (3): 392–3. doi:10.1002/anie.198803921.
- ↑ Inorganic chemistry, Egon Wiberg, Nils Wiberg, Arnold Frederick Holleman, "Hypochlorous acid" p.442, section 4.3.1
- ↑ Holleman, A. F.; Wiberg, Egon; Wiberg, Nils (2001) (in en). Inorganic Chemistry. Academic Press. p. 451. ISBN 9780123526519. https://books.google.com/books?id=Mtth5g59dEIC&dq=0123526515&pg=PA451. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ↑ Gonick, Larry; Criddle, Craig (2005-05-03). "Chapter 9 Acid Basics" (in English). The cartoon guide to chemistry (1st ed.). HarperResource. p. 189. ISBN 9780060936778. https://archive.org/details/cartoonguidetoch00gonirich. "Similarly, we add HOCl to swimming pools to kill bacteria."
- ↑ Harris, Daniel C. (2009). Exploring Chemical Analysis (Fourth ed.). p. 538. https://archive.org/details/exploringchemica00harr_726.
- ↑ Holleman, A. F.; Wiberg, Egon; Wiberg, Nils (2001) (in en). Inorganic Chemistry. Academic Press. p. 449. ISBN 9780123526519. https://books.google.com/books?id=Mtth5g59dEIC&pg=PA449. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
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