TOTALLY unrelated to vet med - gen chem question

[sunnex3]

sooooo i have a gen chem exam next week, and i need some help with a concept.

i know there are some of you chemistry geniuses out there, so i could really use your help!

i'm trying to understand how the structure of a compound/molecule can affect its acidity/basicity. so how does electronegativity, resonance structures, etc. affect the acidity/basicity of a compound?

i know this isn't related to anything pre-vet, but i could really use your help!

thanks!

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[aspiringDVM]

I'm certainly no chemistry genius, but think I remember this correctly...
Generally (there are exceptions due to size, hybridization, etc), the more electronegative an atom or molecule, the more "greedy" it is for electrons and the less likely it will be to want to share them. Thus, the electronegative atom or molecule will be more acidic because it is more inclined to "steal" electrons from a hydrogen atom and kick it off in the form of H+.
As for resonance, resonance makes a molecule better able to support different charges, be they positive or negative. Think of the charge like a really heavy rock or something: one person alone will get tired of holding the rock after awhile and will want to drop it, but a group of people standing in a circle can pass the rock around and keep it off the ground for a long time. If a group of molecules can share the burden of too many/few electrons between them, they will be more likely to dissociate with the cation/ anion that produces the charge.
Hope this helps a little!

 

[Bob2]

Just confirming that from everything i know aspiringDVM is right on the money with thier explanation.