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Citric acid is an organic compound with the formula H O C(CO 2 H)(CH 2 CO 2 H) 2. [10] It is a colorless weak organic acid. [10] It occurs naturally in citrus fruits.In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in the metabolism of all aerobic organisms.
For example, acetic acid is a weak acid which has a = 1.75 x 10 −5. Its conjugate base is the acetate ion with K b = 10 −14 /K a = 5.7 x 10 −10 (from the relationship K a × K b = 10 −14), which certainly does not correspond to a strong base. The conjugate of a weak acid is often a weak base and vice versa.
In water, measurable pK a values range from about −2 for a strong acid to about 12 for a very weak acid (or strong base). A buffer solution of a desired pH can be prepared as a mixture of a weak acid and its conjugate base. In practice, the mixture can be created by dissolving the acid in water, and adding the requisite amount of strong acid ...
In the case of citric acid, the overlap is extensive and solutions of citric acid are buffered over the whole range of pH 2.5 to 7.5. Calculation of the pH with a polyprotic acid requires a speciation calculation to be performed. In the case of citric acid, this entails the solution of the two equations of mass balance:
An organic acid is an organic compound with acidic properties. The most common organic acids are the carboxylic acids , whose acidity is associated with their carboxyl group –COOH. Sulfonic acids , containing the group –SO 2 OH, are relatively stronger acids.
In a buffer, a weak acid and its conjugate base (in the form of a salt), or a weak base and its conjugate acid, are used in order to limit the pH change during a titration process. Buffers have both organic and non-organic chemical applications. For example, besides buffers being used in lab processes, human blood acts as a buffer to maintain pH.
Outside the transition range the concentration of acid or conjugate base is less than 10 % and the colour of the major species dominates. Species concentrations calculated with the program HySS for a 10 mM solution of citric acid. pK a1 = 3.13, pK a2 = 4.76, pK a3 = 6.40. A weak acid may be defined as an acid with pK a greater than
The Henderson–Hasselbalch equation relates the pH of a solution containing a mixture of the two components to the acid dissociation constant, K a of the acid, and the concentrations of the species in solution. [6] Simulated titration of an acidified solution of a weak acid (pK a = 4.7) with alkali