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Chapter 2 Things To Think About

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11 views3 pages

Chapter 2 Things To Think About

Uploaded by

michaelkeypour
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 2.

Food for Thought

Can you explain why water is an ideal biological solvent?


Do I know the normal conditions of the cell, such as pH and ionic strength (salt concentration) of this aqueous
solution?
How well do you understand properties of water: shape, polarity, H-bonding ability, capacity to ionize?
Can you explain what is the H-bonding and the differentiate between H-bond donor and acceptor?
Can you explain the difference in the structure of ice (solid water), liquid water, and water vapor, and what is
the driving force behind spontaneous melting and evaporation of water?
Can you discuss the directionality of the H-bonding?
Are you able to explain (on the molecular level) why ionic and polar substances are water-soluble and non-
polar compounds are not?
What affects the strength of the charge-charge interactions (force between two charged particles)?
Can you explain why ionic attractions are stronger in non-polar solvents?
Can you explain what is the ‘hydrophobic effect’ and the what is the driving force behind this effect?
Do you know the types of aggregates amphipathic compounds form in water (lipid bilayers versus micelles)?
What is ‘amphipathic’?
Can you explain why binding of an enzyme to its substrate is energetic?
How well do you understand different intramolecular forces (covalent, ionic, metallic) and intermolecular
interactions (ion-dipole, dipole-dipole, H-bonding, ion-induced dipole, dipole-induced dipole, London
dispersion, etc.)?
Do I know what are the forces that exist in the liquid water at standard conditions (1 atm and 25 oC)?
Can you explain why maximal weak bonding, combined with the burial of hydrophobic residues in the interior,
achieves the goal of minimal overall energy in macromolecules?
Do I know what are the colligative properties (boiling point elevation, lowering of the partial pressure, freezing
point depression, osmotic pressure), and discuss what is osmosis.
Can I explain what happens to the cells is you were to place them into solutions of different osmolarity
(isotonic, hypertonic, hypotonic)?
Do I know the definitions of acids and bases (specifically, the Bronsted-Løwry theory of acids and bases)?
Can I explain why water is a very poor electrolyte and discuss the ionization of water?
Can you explain the mobility of different ions in an electric field? What is proton hopping?
Can you explain what is pH?
Can you define what is meant by the strength of the acids and bases?
Can you explain the differences between strong and weak acids and bases?
What is the equivalence point of titration?
What is the conjugate acid/bases pairs? Provide examples.
How well do I understand titrations?
Do I know the correlation between the strength of the acids and bases, their Ka values and their pKa values?
What does ‘amphoteric’ mean?
Can you define what is a ‘buffer’ and how buffers are able to resist changes in pH?
Do you know what is a buffering zone?
Do you know how to use the Henderson-Hasselbach equation?
Do you know why the pKa = pH at the mid-point of titration (flat plateau)?
How well do you understand the titration curves?
Can you explain how pH affects protein structure and activity?
Do you know the two types of cellular reactions of water (hydrolysis and condensation)?
Common Formulas:

H2O + H2O → H3O+ + OH‒

Keq = [Products]/[Reactants] Kw = [H+][OH‒] = 1 x 10-14 M2

pH = ‒log [H+] pOH = ‒log [OH‒] pH + pOH = 14

HA → H+ + A‒ Ka = ([H+][A‒]) / [HA] pKa = ‒log Ka

pH = pKa + log ([A‒]/[HA]) or pH = pKa – log ([HA]/[A‒])

Examples Exercises:
What is the pH of an aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide of 5.58 x 10‒7 M?

Given: [Ca(OH)2] = 5.58 x 10‒7 M (mol/L) Find: pH = ?

Ca(OH)2 → Ca2+ + 2 OH‒


1 mol 2 mol

𝑚𝑜𝑙 2 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑂𝐻 − 𝑚𝑜𝑙


5.58 × 10−7 𝐶𝑎(𝑂𝐻)2 × = 1.116 × 10−6 𝑂𝐻 −
𝐿 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐶𝑎(𝑂𝐻)2 𝐿

𝐾𝑤 = [𝐻 + ] × [𝑂𝐻 − ] = 1 × 10−14 𝑀2

+
𝐾𝑤 1 × 10−14 𝑀2
[𝐻 ] = = = 8.96 × 10−9 𝑀
[𝑂𝐻 − ] 1.116 × 10−6 𝑀

𝑝𝐻 = − log[𝐻 + ] = − log (8.96 × 10−5 ) = 8.05

The pKa values for phosphoric acid are 2.15, 6.82, and 12.38.
At the physiological pH 7.4, is it correct to say that [HPO42‒] < [H2PO4‒]?
2.15 6.82 12.38
No, not correct. Why? b/c H3PO4 → H2PO4‒ → HPO42‒ → PO43‒

At pH 7.4 (between 6.82 and 12.38), [HPO42‒] hydrogen diphosphate ion is the predominant ion species
present. The [H2PO4‒] ion predominated between pHs 2.15 and 6.82.
The pH of gastric juice is about 1.4, whereas the pH of a blood sample is 7.4. What is the ratio of [H+] in blood
as compared to gastric juice?

𝑝𝐻 = − log [𝐻 + ] and [𝐻 + ] = 10(−𝑝𝐻)

[𝐻 + ]𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 = 10(−7.4) = 3.981 × 10−8 𝑀

[𝐻 + ]𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑗𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑒 = 10(−1.4) = 0.0398 𝑀

[𝐻 + ]𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 3.981×10−8 𝑀
= = 1.00 × 10−6 Gastric juice has 6,000,000 (six million times) more [H+]
[𝐻 + ]𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑗𝑢𝑖𝑐𝑒 0.0398 𝑀
than the blood!

Three buffers are made by combining a 1 M solution of acetic acid with 1 M solution of sodium acetate in the
ratios shown below:
1 M Acetic Acid 1 M Sodium Acetate
Buffer 1: 90 mL 10 mL
Buffer 2: 50 mL 50 mL
Buffer 3: 10 mL 90 mL

Which of these statements are true of the resulting buffers?

A) pH of Buffer 1 < pH of Buffer 2 < pH of Buffer 3


B) pH of Buffer 1 = pH of Buffer 2 = pH of Buffer 3
C) pH of Buffer 1 > pH of Buffer 2 > pH of Buffer 3
D) The problem cannot be solved without knowing the value of pKa

The Answer is A). No calculation is required. Simply, realize that Buffer 1 has more acid (acetic acid, 90 mL)
than the base (sodium acetate, 10 mL) and Buffer 3 has more base (sodium acetate, 90 mL) than the acid
(acetic acid, 10 mL), since both, the acid and the base, solutions have the same concentration. Also, realize
that the more acid you have, the lower the pH gets, and likewise, more base you have, the higher the pH.

Oxalic acid is a diprotic acid with Ka1 of 5.6 x 10‒2 and Ka2 of 5.1 x 10‒5. What would be pH of the buffer
composed of 4.5 M monosodium oxalate and 0.5 M disodium oxalate?
Ka1 Ka2
Oxalic Acid → Monobasic Oxalate → Dibasic Oxalate
Conjugate Acid Conjugate Base
Since the buffer is composed of monosodium oxalate and disodium oxalate and not oxalic acid, you need to
use Ka2 for your calculations.
pKa2 = ‒ log (Ka2) = ‒ log (5.1 x 10‒5) = 4.29
[𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑂𝑥𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒] 0.5
𝑝𝐻 = 𝑝𝐾𝑎 + log = 4.29 + log ( ) = 3.34
[𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑂𝑥𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒] 4.5

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