A question from 2009 DAT

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m617911622

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The answer is A, but I picked D at first. As I looked over again, and I am still not sure why the answer choice is A. Can someone help me ?


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F is a strong withdrawing group, it pulls all the electrons towards itself. This means that the H is not strongly pulled, and can easily be taken away by a base. A strong acid is one that readily/easily gives up its H, and since F doesn't care very much about the H (it's the most electronegative, it loooooves electrons, not protons), (A) is the most acidic. Hope this helps 🙂
 
F is a strong withdrawing group, it pulls all the electrons towards itself. This means that the H is not strongly pulled, and can easily be taken away by a base. A strong acid is one that readily/easily gives up its H, and since F doesn't care very much about the H (it's the most electronegative, it loooooves electrons, not protons), (A) is the most acidic. Hope this helps 🙂
Does it have to deal with electronegativity?
 
This is a question about the inductive effect. The halogens on the left are all electronegative and thus "pull" the electrons on the oxygen to the left - making it more likely to give up the proton. Flourine is the most electronegative group so it will pull the hardest and make the oxygen the most acidic!