Oxyacid

Under Lavoisier's original theory, all acids contained oxygen, which was named from . It was later discovered that some acids, notably hydrochloric acid, did not contain oxygen and so acids were divided into oxo-acids and these new hydroacids. All oxyacids have the acidic hydrogen bound to an oxygen atom, so bond strength (length) is not a factor, as it is with binary nonmetal hydrides. Rather, the electronegativity of the central atom and the number of oxygen atoms determine oxyacid acidity. For oxyacids with the same central atom, acid strength increases with the number of oxygen atoms attached to it. With the same number of oxygen atoms attached to it, acid strength increases with increasing electronegativity of the central atom. Compared to the salts of their deprotonated forms (a class of compounds known as the oxyanions), oxyacids are generally less stable, and many of them only exist formally as hypothetical species, or only exist in solution and cannot be isolated in pure form. There are several general reasons for this: (1) they may condense to form oligomers (e.g., H2CrO4 to H2Cr2O7), or dehydrate all the way to form the anhydride (e.g., H2CO3 to CO2), (2) they may disproportionate to one compound of higher and another of lower oxidation state (e.g., HClO2 to HClO and HClO3), or (3) they might exist almost entirely as another, more stable tautomeric form (e.g., phosphorous acid P(OH)3 exists almost entirely as phosphonic acid HP(=O)(OH)2). Nevertheless, perchloric acid (HClO4), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), and nitric acid (HNO3) are a few common oxyacids that are relatively easily prepared as pure substances. Imidic acids are created by replacing =O with =NR in an oxyacid. == Properties==

An oxyacid molecule contains the structure X−O−H, where other atoms or atom groups can be connected to the central atom X. In a solution, such a molecule can be dissociated into ions in two distinct ways: • X−O−H ⇌ (X−O)− + H+ • X−O−H ⇌ X+ + OH− When oxyacids are heated, many of them dissociate to water and the anhydride of the acid. In most cases, such anhydrides are oxides of nonmetals. For example, carbon dioxide, CO2, is the anhydride of carbonic acid, H2CO3, and sulfur trioxide, SO3, is the anhydride of sulfuric acid, H2SO4. These anhydrides react quickly with water and form those oxyacids again. Many organic acids, like carboxylic acids and phenols, are oxyacids. Later, however, Humphry Davy showed that the so-called muriatic acid did not contain oxygen, despite its being a strong acid; instead, it is a solution of hydrogen chloride, HCl. Such acids which do not contain oxygen are nowadays known as hydroacids. == Names of inorganic oxyacids ==

Many inorganic oxyacids are traditionally called with names ending with the word acid and which also contain, in a somewhat modified form, the name of the element they contain in addition to hydrogen and oxygen. Well-known examples of such acids are sulfuric acid, nitric acid and phosphoric acid. This practice is fully well-established, and IUPAC has accepted such names. In light of the current chemical nomenclature, this practice is an exception, because systematic names of compounds are formed according to the elements they contain and their molecular structure, not according to other properties (for example, acidity) they have. IUPAC, however, recommends against calling future compounds not yet discovered with a name ending with the word acid. In fact, the fully systematic name of sulfuric acid, according to IUPAC's rules, would be dihydroxidodioxidosulfur and that of the sulfate ion, tetraoxidosulfate(2−), Such names, however, are almost never used. However, the same element can form more than one acid when compounded with hydrogen and oxygen. In such cases, the English practice to distinguish such acids is to use the suffix -ic in the name of the element in the name of the acid containing more oxygen atoms, and the suffix -ous in the name of the element in the name of the acid containing fewer oxygen atoms. Thus, for example, sulfuric acid is H2SO4, and sulfurous acid, H2SO3. Analogously, nitric acid is HNO3, and nitrous acid, HNO2. If there are more than two oxyacids having the same element as the central atom, then, in some cases, acids are distinguished by adding the prefix per- or hypo- to their names. The prefix per-, however, is used only when the central atom is a halogen or a group 7 element. Examples In the following table, the formula and the name of the anion refer to what remains of the acid when it loses all its hydrogen atoms as protons. Many of these acids, however, are polyprotic, and in such cases, there also exists one or more intermediate anions. In name of such anions, the prefix hydrogen- (in older nomenclature bi-) is added, with numeral prefixes if needed. For example, is the sulfate anion, and , the hydrogensulfate (or bisulfate) anion. Similarly, is phosphate, is hydrogenphosphate, and is dihydrogenphosphate. == Sources ==