Protic solvent
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
In chemistry any solvent that carries hydrogen attached to oxygen as in a hydroxyl group or nitrogen as in a amine group is called a protic solvent. The molecules of such solvents can donate an H+ (proton).
Common characteristics:
- solvents display hydrogen bonding
- solvents are acidic
- solvents are able to stabilise ions
- cations by unshared free electron pairs
- anions by hydrogen bonding
Examples are water, methanol, ethanol, formic acid, and ammonia.
Polar aprotic solvents are solvents that share ion dissolving power with protic solvents but lack acidic hydrogen. These solvents generally have high dielectric constants and high polarity.
examples are dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethylformamide, and hexamethylphosphorotriamide.
