Acid Base Reactions

By James Ashenhurst

How to Use a pKa Table

Last updated: August 5th, 2024 |

A Key Skill – How To Use A pKa Table

Today we’ll talk about an incredibly important skill that might take some time to grasp but pays tremendous dividends. We’ll go through the exact details of how to use pKa values to tell if an acid base reaction is favorable or unfavorable.

  • pKa is the negative logarithm of the acid dissociation constant, Ka, which can be measured experimentally.
  • pKa values have been measured for a large number of molecules and are largely related to the most acidic functional group present in the molecule. A pKa table is a useful complication of pKa values.
  • A low value of pKa (e.g. -10) indicates a strong acid. A high value of pKa (e.g. 50) indicates a weak acid.
  • Acid base reactions have four components: an acid and a base exchange a bond to H to give a conjugate acid and a conjugate base.
  • Acid-base reactions can always be written as equilibria; that is,  occurring in a forward or a reverse direction. The favored direction for an acid-base reaction is when a stronger acid and a stronger base give a weaker acid and a weaker base.
  • One can tell which direction is favored by comparing the pKa of the acid and the conjugate acid. Formation of the weaker acid (i.e. molecule with the higher pKa) will be favored.
  • These concepts can also be applied to other reactions you will learn about later on in the course (e.g. substitution reactions)

Table of Contents

    1. The Acidity Constant Ka and Its Negative Logarithm pKa
    2. The Four Components of an Acid Base Reaction
    3. The Principle of Acid-Base Mediocrity
    4. Using pKa values and the Principle of Acid-Base Mediocrity To Predict Acid-Base Reactions
    5. How to Use pKa Values to Determine Basicity 
    6. How to Use a pKa Table To Determine If An Acid-Base Reaction Is Favorable
    7. How To Determine The Acidity of Compounds That Aren’t On A pKa Chart
    8. Applying pKa In Substitution Reactions
    9. Summary
    10. Notes
    11. Quiz Yourself!
    12. (Advanced) References and Further Reading

1. The Acidity Constant Ka and Its Negative Logarithm pKa

Let’s review some key principles of acidity constants to make sure we’re all on the same page.

The acidity constant, Ka, is a measurement of the equilibrium between an acid, H-A and its dissociation to give H+ and its conjugate base, A(-). (This value has to be measured experimentally).

what is the acid dissociation constant ka and what is the equilibrium expression

      • A strong acid has complete or nearly complete dissociation, so a large Ka.
      • A weak acid has incomplete dissociation, and a small Ka.

Not shown in the equation for Ka is the solvent, which is generally assumed to be water for our purposes. There are limits to using water as a solvent for Ka measurements at extreme acidities and basicities. [Note 1]

Can you tell which acid is stronger based on its Ka?

Click to Flip

In order to get a better grasp on these numbers, we often take the negative logarithm of the acidity constant and call this pKa.

pKa = – log Ka

Click to Flip
      • The higher the pKa, the weaker the acid.
      • The lower the pKa, the stronger the acid.

One of the strongest acids, H-I has a pKa of -10.

Water has a pKa of 14. [Note 2]

Alkanes have a pKa of about 50.

[Note 3]

2. The Four Components Of An Acid-Base Reaction

In an acid-base reaction, a bond is formed at H and a bond is broken at H.

Every acid-base reaction has four components.

the four components of an acid base reaction are acid base conjugate acid and conjugate base

      • The acid (where the bond to H breaks),
      • the base (where the bond to H forms),
      • the conjugate acid (the species that results when the base forms the new bond to H)
      • and the conjugate base (the species that results when the acid breaks its bond to H).

This is drawn in the forward direction (left to right) but the reverse reaction (right to left) is also an acid-base reaction. We just flip around the identities.

To see the reverse acid-base reaction, hover here or click this link.

Note that by drawing something up as an acid-base reaction does not imply that it actually happens at a reasonable rate.

That can only be determined through experiment.

We’re just saying that the pattern of an acid-base reaction is followed (i.e. form and break a bond at the same H).

3. The Principle of Acid-Base Mediocrity

In what direction do you think acid-base reactions are favored?

Do they spontaneously go from stronger acids to weaker acids, or do they go from weaker acids to stronger acids?

What correlates more with your experience: does adding salt (NaCl) to water result in harmless salt water, or result in the exothermic formation of HCl gas and caustic NaOH?

Acid base reactions spontaneously proceed in a direction that gives weaker acids from stronger acids

I like to call this The Principle of Acid-Base Mediocrity. [Note 4]

the favored direction for an acid base reaction is one where a stronger acid combines with a stronger base and a weaker acid and a weaker base

How do we know which acid is stronger and which is weaker? By identifying the acid and the conjugate acid, and comparing their two pKa values!

Acid base reactions will favor formation of the acid with the higher pKa value. It’s not completely unlike how areas of high pressure will flow to areas of low pressure.

4. Using pKa values and the Principle of Acid-Base Mediocrity To Predict Acid-Base Reactions

With these two mental tools – the higher the pKa, the weaker the acid, and the Principle Of Acid Base Mediocrity, we are all set to use pKa values to predict the directions of acid-base reactions.

The acid-base reaction that results in a compound with a lower pKa going to a higher pKa will be favored.

The compound with the lower pKa will be the stronger acid and the compound with the higher pKa will be the weaker acid.

Ready for some quizzes?

Let’s start with an acid base reaction involving a terminal alkyne (pKa 25) and acetic acid (pKa 4)

[

Click to Flip

Now let’s look at water (pKa 14) and acetic acid (pKa 4)

Click to Flip

Note that each unit of difference in pKa indicates an order of magnitude difference in acidity.

We can get a rough idea of the position of the equilibrium by measuring the difference in pKa values.

So the acid-base reaction in the quiz above favors water (pKa 14) by about 10 orders of magnitude (1010) over acetic acid (pKa 4). That means there are roughly 10 billion molecules of water for every molecule of acetic acid.

This quiz asks you to calculate the ratio of each acid present at equilibrium.

Click to Flip

A good rule of thumb is that a difference in pKa of more than 10 pKa units will represent an irreversible acid-base reaction for the purposes of carrying out a chemical reaction. [Note 5]

So acetate ion (the conjugate base of acetic acid, pKa 4) is perfectly capable of deprotonating water (pKa 14) but the equilibrium will be very unfavorable (a difference of 10 pKa units).

It’s unreasonable to expect that acetate ion will be able to deprotonate a ketone like acetone (pKa 17) to any significant extent.

5. pKa Values Are Also A Guide To Basicity

pKa values are also a useful guide to basicity, but maybe not in the way that you’d normally think.

There’s one common misconception that needs to get cleared up.

Click to Flip

It’s true that the higher the pKa, the weaker the acid.

Does that mean that the higher the pKa, the stronger the base?

No! 

In order for a species to act as a base, it has to have a lone pair of electrons that could reasonably remove a proton. That’s not the case for alkanes (pKa = 50), alkenes (pKa = 42), or ammonium salts (pKa = 10) and many others.

Instead, it’s true that the higher the pKa, the stronger the conjugate base.

You can use pKa values to predict the strength of the base that will result when a proton (H+) is removed.

Click to Flip

Here is another quick quiz:

Click to Flip

6. How To Use a pKa table

The ultimate guide to acidity is a pKa table, which represents a collection of actual measurements of the acidity of various molecules.

A typical pKa table covers the acidity of species ranging from hydroiodic acid H-I (pKa = -9) to alkanes (pKa = 50)  representing about 60 orders of magnitude in reactivity. [Note 6]

a short pka table with ranked acids and also a ranking of the basicity of the conjugate bases

Using a pKa table, you can apply the Principle of Acid-Base Mediocrity and examine any random acid base reaction, once you have identified the main functional group.

It’s very powerful.

For example, will CH3CH2S(-), the conjugate base of ethanethiol  deprotonate hydrogen gas (H2) to give H(-) ?

Click to Flip

To figure this out, we draw out the four components of our acid base reaction. We then look on our pKa table for the pKa of a thiol and H2 . The pKa of the thiol is about 10 and the pKa of H2 is about 35.

Since going from CH3CH2S(-) to H(-) would result in a significantly stronger acid (and stronger base), we can say this reaction is unfavorable.

With a little bit of thought, you will soon reach the conclusion that a pKa table is not unlike the ranking of hands in poker.

It is particularly useful for ranking the strengths of bases.

For example, just like a royal flush beats all other hands in poker, a deprotonated alkane like CH3(-) will have a favorable acid-base equilibrium for the deprotonation of  anything below it in the pKa table.

Since pretty much everything is less acidic than an alkane, this means that the conjugate base of an alkane can remove a proton from a huge variety of functional groups. [Note 7]

how to use a pka table to rank the basicity of conjugate bases

7. How To Determine The Acidity Of Compounds That Aren’t on the pKa chart

One of the keys to using a pKa table is to start by identifying the key functional group(s) present and be familiar with their acidities.

Two of the molecules below might look a little scary because they are so huge and complex, but their acidity will mostly be determined by the functional group, not all the alkyl carbons.

how to use a pka table to determine acidity of complex molecules

The pKa of cholic acid isn’t so different from acetic acid. The pKa of cocaine’s conjugate acid isn’t so different from ammonium. So start by focusing on the most acidic functional group.

What about the key trends that influence acidity? Aren’t they important?

Yes, of course. But when we’re changing two or more variables at once (e.g. when we’re comparing the acidities of two different functional groups), it’s difficult to judge which variable is more important without an experimental measurement.

That’s why pKa measurements are so useful.

If we’re examining the same functional group, then applying trends to determine the relative acidities is helpful.

instead of using a pka table when there are molecules with the same functional group apply trends instead

In this case, apply the trend that the more electronegative electron-withdrawing groups help to stabilize the negative charge in the conjugate base. The weaker the conjugate base, the stronger the acid.

8. Not Just For Acid Base Reactions

A good working knowledge of pKa isn’t just useful for acid-base reactions.

It can also be useful for predicting whether certain reactions will be favorable, even if you don’t know the mechanism.

For example,  substitution reactions involve formation and breakage of bonds at a carbon atom.

Here is an example.

Just based on relative basicities, in which direction would you predict this reaction to be favorable? Don’t worry about anything else for now. 

Click to Flip

We would not expect this reaction to be favorable, because it results in a much stronger base.

But the reverse reaction, where it does form a weaker base, works perfectly fine.

Here is another examnple of a substitution reaction, known as nucleophilic acyl substitution. Don’t worry about the name or the mechanism for now.

Just based on relative pKa values, in which direction would you predict this reaction to be favorable?

Click to Flip

All else being equal, we should expect that the reaction will favor the formation of the weaker base.

9. Summary

If you have a pKa table, you essentially have a ranking of the stabilities of different molecules. (The stronger the base, the more unstable it is).

You can start to make predictions about which direction reactions will be favorable (or unfavorable).

When you hear instructors say things like, “don’t memorize, learn the concepts! “, this is one of those concepts that is extremely powerful when you understand it and apply it.


Notes

Note 1. The limit to using water as solvent for pKa measurements is the levelling effect. That is, no base can exist that is stronger than HO(-), and no acid can exist that is stronger than H3O(+). For this reason, pKa values for weaker acids than H2O are often measured in DMSO.

Note 2. The pKa of pure water is 14. The relative acidity of water relative to alcohols can change in other solvents. For example, in 2-propanol, methanol is 3 times more acidic than water.  See Ref 1.

Note 3. How are pKa values measured? See reference six.

Note 4. Related to the Principle of Acid-Base Mediocrity is the Principle of Pressure Mediocrity (high pressure flows to low pressure, to give a mediocre pressure) and the Principle of Concentration Mediocrity (high concentration diffuses to areas of low concentration to give a mediocre concentration).

Law of pressure mediocrity - flowing from high pressure to low - TN vs Bama

Note 5. One example of this rule of thumb in practice is the Claisen Condensation, where alkoxide bases (pKa of alcohols = 15-16) are capable of deprotonating esters (pKa = 25).

Note 6. 60 orders of magnitude is a lot. It is roughly the difference between the smallest possible length (the Planck length, about 10-35 m) and the size of the known universe (4.4 × 1026 m).

Note 7. Assuming no side reactions interfere, which is generally a good assumption since, for the most part, acid-base reactions are fast, relative to other reactions.

Quiz Yourself

Click to Flip

Click to Flip

(Advanced) References and Further Reading

A collection of pKa values is presented on the Organic Chemistry Data site (formerly Hans Reich’s site)

  1. What Is The pKa of Water? from Libretexts is a very accessible article on this topic.
  2. pKa Values in the Undergraduate Curriculum: What Is the Real pKa of Water?
    Todd P. Silverstein and Stephen T. Heller
    Journal of Chemical Education 2017 94 (6), 690-695
    DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00623
  3. Confusing Quantitative Descriptions of Brønsted-Lowry Acid-Base Equilibria in Chemistry Textbooks – A Critical Review and Clarifications for Chemical Educators
    Meister, E.C., Willeke, M., Angst, W., Togni, A. and Walde, P.
    Helvetica Chimica Acta, 2014 97: 1-31.
    DOI: 10.1002/hlca.201300321
    Full discussion of why the pKa of water (in water as solvent) should be 14.0 and the pKa of H3O(+) should be 0.
  4. Acid Ionization Constants of Alcohols. II. Acidities of Some Substituted Methanols and Related Compounds
    P. Ballinger and F. A. Long
    Journal of the American Chemical Society 1960 82 (4), 795-798
    DOI: 10.1021/ja01489a008
    This is the paper giving the pKa of water as 15.7 whose methods are criticized in the above articles. Read it for yourself.
  5. The Relative Acidity of Water, Methanol and Other Weak Acids in Isopropyl Alcohol Solution
    Jack Hine and Mildred Hine
    Journal of the American Chemical Society 1952 74 (21), 5266-5271
    DOI: 10.1021/ja01141a009
  6. Equilibrium acidities in dimethyl sulfoxide solution
    Frederick G. Bordwell
    Accounts of Chemical Research 1988 21 (12), 456-463
    DOI: 10.1021/ar00156a004
    A very accessible account on the measurement of pKa values.

[Sigificantly updated Oct 2022]

Comments

Comment section

40 thoughts on “How to Use a pKa Table

  1. Can I ask a question about this sentence? “One example of this rule of thumb in practice is the Claisen Condensation, where alkoxide bases (pKa of alcohols = 15-16) are capable of deprotonating esters (pKa = 25).” It seems that a weaker base forms a stronger base because the esters is a weaker acid compared with alcohols so its conjugated base is stronger.

    1. Yes. While it’s true that a weaker base forms a stronger base, it’s still an equilibrium, where the concentration of deprotonated ester is about 1 x 10-9 relative to the concentration of alkoxide. However, that deprotonated ester is then immediately consumed in a reaction (the Claisen condensation, which results in formation of an alkoxide base). As deprotonated ester is consumed, the equilibrium then re-establishes itself (Le Chatelier’s principle). In this way eventually all the ester is converted into the final reaction product.

      It goes to show how fast chemical reactions can be when an equilibrium difference of 1 x 10-9 can still result in a reaction going to completion.

  2. “Since pretty much everything is less acidic than a deprotonated alkane, this means that they can deprotonate, well, pretty much anything. [Note 7]”. Should we replace the acid with alkalinity in this sentence?

  3. “Here is another examnple of a substitution reaction, known as nucleophilic acyl substitution. Don’t worry about the name or the mechanism for now.” corect ur typo

  4. Hi James, marvellous post as usual. I think I’ve spotted a tiny error. At the end of section 3 you state that “Acid base reactions will favor formation of the acid with the lower pKa value”. I think this shoudl read “…the acid with the HIGHER pKa value”, as weaker acids have higher pKa values (and lower Ka values), right? Cheers, Jamie.

  5. Hello !
    I studied chemistry a long time ago in French universities! I kept a bitter memory of the difficulties to decipher the courses of my former professors and assistants.
    And yet, chemistry fascinates me! I discovered your site and I am impressed by your presentation, your pedagogy and the way you explain step by step and clearly all these notions difficult to assimilate for young students.
    BRAVO and CONGRATULATIONS …. I never tire of following your posts! CONTINUE …

  6. For example A we had
    weak acid+weak base->stronger acid+stronger base
    You said this leads to No Reaction.
    How is this the case when every reaction is in equilibrium? Are we supposed to assume that because the reactants are favored energetically( meaning they have lower energy and are thus more stable) that the equilibrium is favored so much to the left that the forward reaction is essentially zero?I only ask this question because on the “handy dandy rule page” you have A/B reactions that work and they have the same WA+WB–>SA+SB pattern.

  7. Man I am dodo head HAH! I was looking at the NH3 on the acid side lol! Thanks!I am hope I am not the only person to make that mistake.

  8. You say,”Our basic product, Cl(-) ranks below NH3 on our inverse pKa scale. Our product is a weaker base than NH3.”Are you saying that NH2- is what we are comparing Cl(-) to?

    1. No, I mean we’re comparing Cl- to NH3. It’s in the table, far right, between CH3COO- and HO- .
      The point of the sentence was to try to drive home the fact that the reaction follows the rule, “stronger acid plus stronger base gives weaker acid and weaker base”.

  9. Great point. For pKas higher than that of water, DMSO is a common choice of solvent. Also, at the high end of the scale (e.g. alkanes), many of these values are “kinetic” acidities rather than true equilibria.

    Values for acidity in DMSO and water can differ considerably. For our purposes here, I generally don’t go into these details.

  10. I am very confused by all these pKa, because as long as you do not know the solvent dissociation constant they are not that useful.
    What I mean is that in water the strongest acid is H3O+ and the stronger base is OH-.
    Therefore IN WATER all these 38, 48, are all 15.7 and all the -8 ans so on are -1.7.
    So what is the strategy?

  11. I am very confused by all these pKa, because as long as you do not know the solvent dissociation constant they are not that useful.
    What I mean is that in water the strongest acid is H3O+ and the stronger base is OH-.
    Therefore IN WATER all these 38, 48, -10 are all 15.7 and all the -8 ans so on are -1.7.
    So what is the strategy?

  12. This website is an excellent resource. Thank you!

    2 questions:

    Can diphenyl ether function as a base? If so, which is a stronger base,
    diphenyl ether or diphenyl amine?

    1. Diphenyl ether is an extremely weak base. Diphenylamine is a stronger base than diphenyl ether but surprisingly not by much.

      One way to evaluate basicity is by the pKa of the conjugate acid (which I call pKaH). The pKa of the conjugate acid of diphenyl ether is about -3 or so, while the pKa of the conjugate acid of diphenylamine is 0.78. Search for the Evans pka table for the references.

  13. Thank you so much! you are the best !!! i have been struggling with acid/base since the high school now i have a better understanding of how to use the pka table to help me understand the mechanism of org. THANK YOU! :)

  14. Hi, Can you tell me a close value for pka of second dissociation of ethyne?
    (HC2)- to (C2)-

    The first dissociation pka is available in internet, but the second one was not available?

  15. The inverse principle that you have posted doesn’t hold for HCN.
    HCN is a weak acid.However it’s conjugate is weak base too and there are many exceptions too.

      1. How are you defining weak? Water can be termed a weak acid, as can essentially any proton source with a pKa higher than that of water. Yet the hydroxide ion is a strong base, defined by the fact that it is fully ionized in water.

  16. Hi,
    Thanks for sharing the pka in detail. I do not understand why the reaction in example 1 is not possible as CH3 (weak acid) react with HO- (weak base) to provide CH3 (strong base) and H2O (strong acid).
    Please you help is appreciated.
    Regards,

  17. I have been using this site quite a bit, even though I read book and go to class lectures, this site still has more helpful hints and details the book(Klein 2e) doesn’t even mention that would seem necessary.

    You’ve done an incredible thing creating this site, thank you!

  18. Hi, could I use pka tables to see what pka a Base e.g. must have to deprotonate an Alkohol. In principle it should be higher than 16.

  19. THANK YOU VERY MUCH
    this article has provided a concrete way of judging an acid base reaction for which I was helplessly struggling
    great site
    keep maintaining and improving it

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.