Organic Chemistry: Acids and Bases

This set of vocabulary flashcards addresses key concepts related to acids, bases, and polar covalent bonds from Organic Chemistry.

Electronegativity

The intrinsic ability of an atom to attract the shared electrons in a covalent bond.

Polar Covalent Bond

A bond where bonding electrons are attracted more strongly by one atom than by the other, resulting in an uneven distribution of electron density.

Brønsted-Lowry Acid

A substance that donates a hydrogen ion (H+).

Brønsted-Lowry Base

A substance that accepts a hydrogen ion (H+).

Conjugate Acid

The product that results from protonation of a Brønsted-Lowry base.

Conjugate Base

The product that results from deprotonation of a Brønsted-Lowry acid.

pKa

The negative common logarithm of the acid dissociation constant (Ka), used to express acid strength.

Dipole Moment

A measure of molecular polarity, resulting from the vector summation of individual bond polarities and lone-pair contributions.

Inductive Effect

The shifting of electrons in a σ bond in response to the electronegativity of nearby atoms.

Lewis Acid

An electron pair acceptor in a chemical reaction.

Lewis Base

An electron pair donor in a chemical reaction.

Zwitterion

A molecule that has both positive and negative charges but is overall neutral, often seen in amino acids.

Acidity Constant (Ka)

A measure of the strength of an acid in solution, representing the equilibrium constant for the dissociation of the acid.

Electrostatic Potential Maps

Visual representations that illustrate the charge distribution within a molecule, often using color to indicate electron density.

Acid-Base Complex

A chemical species formed from the association of a Lewis acid and a Lewis base through the donation and acceptance of an electron pair.