Hydronium
Hydronium
Hydronium
Relation to pH
The molar concentration of hydronium or
+
H ions determines a solution's pH
according to
Names
IUPAC name
oxonium
Other names
hydronium ion
Identifiers
CAS 13968-
Number
08-6 (htt
ps://com
monche
mistry.ca
s.org/det
ail?cas_r
n=13968-
08-6)
3D Interactive
model
image (htt
(JSmol)
ps://chem
apps.stola
f.edu/jmo
l/jmol.ph
p?model
=%5BOH
3%2B%5
D)
ChEBI CHEBI:29412
(https://ww
w.ebi.ac.uk/c
hebi/searchI
d.do?chebiId
=29412)
ChemSpi 109935
der (https://
www.che
mspider.
com/Che
mical-Str
ucture.10
9935.ht
ml)
Gmelin 141
Reference
PubChem 123332
CID
(https://p
ubchem.
ncbi.nlm.
nih.gov/c
ompoun
d/12333
2)
CompTox DTXSID208
Dashboard
3597 (http
(EPA)
s://compto
epa.gov/da
hboard/che
mical/deta
s/DTXSID2
893597)
InChI
InChI=1S/H2O/h1
H2/p+1
Key: XLYOFNOQVP
JJNP-UHFFFA
OYSA-O
SMILES
[OH3+]
Properties
Chemical H3O+
formula
Acidity 0
(pKa)
Conjugat Water
e base
Except where
otherwise noted,
data are given for
materials in their
standard state (at
25 °C [77 °F],
100 kPa).
verify (https://en.w
ikipedia.org/w/inde
x.php?title=Special:
ComparePages&rev
1=417094923&page
2=Hydroniu
m) (what is ?)
Infobox references
− +
H2O ⇌ OH (aq) + H (aq)
Nomenclature
According to IUPAC nomenclature of
organic chemistry, the hydronium ion
should be referred to as oxonium.[8]
Hydroxonium may also be used
unambiguously to identify it.
Structure
+
Since O and N have the same number of
+
electrons, H3O is isoelectronic with
ammonia. As shown in the images above,
+
H3O has a trigonal pyramidal molecular
geometry with the oxygen atom at its
apex. The H−O−H bond angle is
approximately 113°,[9] and the center of
mass is very close to the oxygen atom.
Because the base of the pyramid is made
up of three identical hydrogen atoms, the
+
H3O molecule's symmetric top
configuration is such that it belongs to the
C3v point group. Because of this symmetry
and the fact that it has a dipole moment,
the rotational selection rules are ΔJ = ±1
and ΔK = 0. The transition dipole lies along
the c-axis and, because the negative
charge is localized near the oxygen atom,
the dipole moment points to the apex,
perpendicular to the base plane.
Acids and acidity
The hydrated proton is very acidic: at
25 °C, its pKa is approximately 0.[10] The
values commonly given for pKaaq(H3O+)
are 0 or –1.74. The former uses the
convention that the activity of the solvent
in a dilute solution (in this case, water) is
1, while the latter uses the value of the
concentration of water in the pure liquid of
55.5 M. Silverstein has shown that the
latter value is thermodynamically
unsupportable.[11] The disagreement
comes from the ambiguity that to define
pKa of H3O+ in water, H2O has to act
simultaneously as a solute and the
solvent. The IUPAC has not given an
official definition of pKa that would resolve
this ambiguity. Burgot has argued that
H3O+(aq) + H2O (l) ⇄ H2O (aq) + H3O+ (aq)
is simply not a thermodynamically well-
defined process. For an estimate of
pKaaq(H3O+), Burgot suggests taking the
measured value pKaEtOH(H3O+) = 0.3, the
pKa of H3O+ in ethanol, and applying the
correlation equation pKaaq = pKaEtOH – 1.0
(± 0.3) to convert the ethanol pKa to an
aqueous value, to give a value of
pKaaq(H3O+) = –0.7 (± 0.3).[12] On the other
hand, Silverstein has shown that Ballinger
and Long's experimental results [13]
support a pKa of 0.0 for the aqueous
proton.[14] Neils and Schaertel provide
added arguments for a pKa of 0.0 [15]
Solvation
Researchers have yet to fully characterize
the solvation of hydronium ion in water, in
part because many different meanings of
solvation exist. A freezing-point
depression study determined that the
mean hydration ion in cold water is
+
approximately H3O (H2O)6:[17] on average,
each hydronium ion is solvated by 6 water
molecules which are unable to solvate
other solute molecules.
Some hydration structures are quite large:
+
the H3O (H2O)20 magic ion number
structure (called magic number because of
its increased stability with respect to
hydration structures involving a
comparable number of water molecules –
this is a similar usage of the term magic
number as in nuclear physics) might place
the hydronium inside a dodecahedral
cage.[18] However, more recent ab initio
method molecular dynamics simulations
have shown that, on average, the hydrated
proton resides on the surface of the
+
H3O (H2O)20 cluster.[19] Further, several
disparate features of these simulations
agree with their experimental counterparts
suggesting an alternative interpretation of
the experimental results.
Zundel cation
Interstellar H3 O+
+
As mentioned previously, H3O is found in
both diffuse and dense molecular clouds.
By applying the reaction rate constants (α,
β, and γ) corresponding to all of the
currently available characterized reactions
+
involving H3O , it is possible to calculate
k(T) for each of these reactions. By
multiplying these k(T) by the relative
abundances of the products, the relative
rates (in cm3/s) for each reaction at a
given temperature can be determined.
These relative rates can be made in
absolute rates by multiplying them by the
2 [39]
[H2 ] . By assuming T = 10 K for a dense
cloud and T = 50 K for a diffuse cloud, the
results indicate that most dominant
formation and destruction mechanisms
were the same for both cases. It should be
mentioned that the relative abundances
used in these calculations correspond to
TMC-1, a dense molecular cloud, and that
the calculated relative rates are therefore
expected to be more accurate at T = 10 K.
The three fastest formation and
destruction mechanisms are listed in the
table below, along with their relative rates.
Note that the rates of these six reactions
are such that they make up approximately
99% of hydronium ion's chemical
interactions under these conditions.[31] All
three destruction mechanisms in the table
below are classified as dissociative
recombination reactions.[40]
+
Primary reaction pathways of H3O in
the interstellar medium (specifically,
dense clouds).
+ −
In 1991, the 32 − 22 transition at
364 797.427 MHz was observed in OMC-1
+ −
and Sgr B2.[43] One year later, the 30 − 20
transition at 396 272.412 MHz was
observed in several regions, the clearest of
which was the W3 IRS 5 cloud.[38]
− +
The first far-IR 43 − 33 transition at
69.524 µm (4.3121 THz) was made in
1996 near Orion BN-IRc2.[44] In 2001, three
+
additional transitions of H3O in were
−
observed in the far infrared in Sgr B2; 21
+
− 11 transition at 100.577 µm (2.98073
− +
THz), 11− 11 at 181.054 µm (1.65582
− +
THz) and 20 − 10 at 100.869 µm (2.9721
THz).[45]
See also
Hydron (hydrogen cation)
Hydride
Hydrogen anion
Hydrogen ion
Grotthus mechanism
Trifluorooxonium
Law of dilution
References
1. Reed, C.A. (2013). "Myths about the proton.
The nature of H+ in condensed media" (http
s://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PM
C3833890) . Acc. Chem. Res. 46 (11):
2567–2575. doi:10.1021/ar400064q (http
s://doi.org/10.1021%2Far400064q) .
PMC 3833890 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g
ov/pmc/articles/PMC3833890) .
PMID 23875729 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.
nih.gov/23875729) .
External links
J Phys Chem infrared spectra of
hydronium (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/ab
s/10.1021/j100372a014?journalCode=jp
chax)
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