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The Brønsted–Lowry theory (also called proton theory of acids and bases [1]) is an acid–base reaction theory which was first developed by Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted and Thomas Martin Lowry independently in 1923.
In chemistry, an acid–base reaction is a chemical reaction that occurs between an acid and a base.It can be used to determine pH via titration.Several theoretical frameworks provide alternative conceptions of the reaction mechanisms and their application in solving related problems; these are called the acid–base theories, for example, Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory.
The essence of Brønsted–Lowry theory is that an acid only exists as such in relation to a base, and vice versa. Water is amphoteric as it can act as an acid or as a base. In the image shown at the right one molecule of H2O acts as a base and gains H+ to become H3O+ while the other acts as an acid and loses H+ to become OH−.
Crystalline benzoic acid shown here is a solid and an acid, but, in the context of this article, it is not a "solid acid", which are polymeric materials and typically stronger acids. Examples of inorganic solid acids include silico-aluminates ( zeolites , alumina , silico-aluminophosphate), and sulfated zirconia .
Bases and acids are seen as chemical opposites because the effect of an acid is to increase the hydronium (H 3 O +) concentration in water, whereas bases reduce this concentration. A reaction between aqueous solutions of an acid and a base is called neutralization , producing a solution of water and a salt in which the salt separates into its ...
Such acids are used in cracking. Many solid Brønsted acids are also employed industrially, including sulfonated polystyrene, sulfonated carbon, [1] [2] solid phosphoric acid, niobic acid, and heteropolyoxometallates. [3] A particularly large scale application is alkylation, e.g., the combination of benzene and ethylene to give ethylbenzene.
In 1923, he recognized that acid–base reactions involved the transfer of a proton, from the acid (proton donor) to the base (proton acceptor). [8] Almost simultaneously and independently, the British chemist Martin Lowry arrived at the same conclusion, thus the name Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory. [9]
acid + base ⇌ conjugate base + conjugate acid. An acid is a proton donor; the proton is transferred to the base, a proton acceptor, creating a conjugate acid. For aqueous solutions of an acid HA, the base is water; the conjugate base is A − and the conjugate acid is the solvated hydrogen ion.