An acid (from the Latin acidus/acre meaning sour) is a chemical substance whose aqueous solutions are

characterized by a sour taste, the ability to turn blue litmus red, and the ability to react with bases and certain metals
(like calcium) to form salts. Aqueous solutions of acids have a pH of less than 7. A lower pH means a higher acidity,
and thus a higher concentration of positive hydrogen ions in thesolution. Chemicals or substances having the
property of an acid are said to be acidic.
There are three common definitions for acids: the Arrhenius definition, the Brnsted-Lowry definition, and the Lewis
definition. The Arrhenius definition defines acids as substances which increase the concentration of hydrogen ions
(H+), or more accurately, hydronium ions (H3O+), when dissolved in water. The Brnsted-Lowry definition is an
expansion: an acid is a substance which can act as a proton donor. By this definition, any compound which can
easily be deprotonated can be considered an acid. Examples include alcohols and amines which contain O-H or NH fragments. A Lewis acid is a substance that can accept a pair of electrons to form a covalent bond. Examples of
Lewis acids include all metal cations, and electron-deficient molecules such as boron trifluoride and aluminium
trichloride.
Common examples of acids include hydrochloric acid (a solution of hydrogen chloride which is found in gastric
acid in the stomach and activates digestive enzymes), acetic acid (vinegar is a dilute solution of this liquid), sulfuric
acid (used in car batteries), and tartaric acid (a solid used in baking). As these examples show, acids can be
solutions or pure substances, and can be derived from solids,liquids, or gases. Strong acids and some concentrated
weak acids are corrosive, but there are exceptions such as carboranes andboric acid.

Mineral acids (inorganic acids)

Hydrogen halides and their solutions: hydrofluoric acid (HF), hydrochloric acid (HCl), hydrobromic
acid (HBr), hydroiodic acid (HI)
Halogen oxoacids: hypochlorous acid (HClO), chlorous acid (HClO2), chloric acid (HClO3), perchloric
acid (HClO4), and corresponding compounds for bromine and iodine
Sulfuric acid (H2SO4)
Fluorosulfuric acid (HSO3F)
Nitric acid (HNO3)
Phosphoric acid (H3PO4)
Fluoroantimonic acid (HSbF6)
Fluoroboric acid (HBF4)
Hexafluorophosphoric acid (HPF6)
Chromic acid (H2CrO4)
Boric acid (H3BO3)

Sulfonic acids
Methanesulfonic acid (or mesylic acid, CH3SO3H)
Ethanesulfonic acid (or esylic acid, CH3CH2SO3H)
Benzenesulfonic acid (or besylic acid, C6H5SO3H)
p-Toluenesulfonic acid (or tosylic acid, CH3C6H4SO3H)
Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (or triflic acid, CF3SO3H)
Polystyrene sulfonic acid (sulfonated polystyrene, [CH2CH(C6H4)SO3H]n)

Carboxylic acids
Acetic acid (CH3COOH)
Citric acid (C6H8O7)
Formic acid (HCOOH)
Gluconic acid HOCH2-(CHOH)4-COOH
Lactic acid (CH3-CHOH-COOH)
Oxalic acid (HOOC-COOH)

Tartaric acid (HOOC-CHOH-CHOH-COOH)

Halogenated carboxylic acids

Halogenation at alpha position increases acid strength, so that the following acids are all stronger than acetic acid.
Fluoroacetic acid
Trifluoroacetic acid
Chloroacetic acid
Dichloroacetic acid
Trichloroacetic acid

Vinylogous carboxylic acids

Normal carboxylic acids are the direct union of a carbonyl group and a hydroxy group. In vinylogous carboxylic
acids, a carbon-carbon double bond separates the carbonyl and hydroxyl groups.
Ascorbic acid

Nucleic acids
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Ribonucleic acid (RNA)
In chemistry, a base is a substance that, in aqueous solution, is slippery to the touch, tastes bitter, changes the
colour of indicators (e.g., turns red litmus paper blue), reacts with acids to form salts, and promotes certain chemical
reactions (base catalysis). Examples of bases are the hydroxides of the alkali and alkaline earth
metals (NaOH, Ca(OH)2, etc.). Such substances producehydroxide ions (OH-) in aqueous solutions, and are thus
classified as Arrhenius bases.
For a substance to be classified as an Arrhenius base, it must produce hydroxide ions in solutionin order to do so,
Arrhenius believed the base must contain hydroxide in the formula. This makes the Arrhenius model limited, as it
cannot explain the basic properties of aqueous solutions of ammonia (NH3) or its organic derivatives (amines). In the
more general BrnstedLowry acidbase theory, a base is a substance that can accept hydrogen ions (H+)
otherwise known as protons. In the Lewis model, a base is an electron pair donor.
In water, by altering the autoionization equilibrium, bases give solutions with a hydrogen ion activity lower than that
of pure water, i.e., a pH higher than 7.0 at standard conditions. A soluble base is called an alkali if it contains and
releases OH- ions quantitatively. However, it is important to realize that basicity is not the same as alkalinity.
Metal oxides, hydroxides, and especially alkoxides are basic, and counteranions of weak acids are weak bases.
Bases can be thought of as the chemical opposite of acids. Bases and acids are seen as opposites because the
effect of an acid is to increase the hydronium (H3O+) concentration in water, whereas bases reduce this
concentration. A reaction between an acid and base is called neutralization. In a neutralization reaction, an aqueous
solution of a base reacts with an aqueous solution of an acid to produce a solution of water and salt in which the salt
separates into its component ions. If the aqueous solution is saturated with a given salt solute, any additional such
saltprecipitates out of the solution.
The notion of a base as a concept in chemistry was first introduced by the French chemist Guillaume Franois
Rouelle in 1754. He noted that acids, which at that time were mostly volatile liquids (like acetic acid), turned into
solid salts only when combined with specific substances. Rouelle considered that such a substance serves as
a base for the salt, giving the salt a "concrete or solid form".

Strong bases
A strong base is a basic chemical compound that can remove a proton (H+) from (or deprotonate) a molecule of a
very weak acid in an acid-base reaction. Common examples of strong bases include hydroxides of alkali metals and
alkaline earth metals like NaOH and Ca(OH)
2. Very strong bases can even deprotonate very weakly acidic CH groups in the absence of water. Here is a list of
several strong bases:

Potassium hydroxide (KOH)

Barium hydroxide (Ba(OH)
2)

Cesium hydroxide (CsOH)

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)

Strontium hydroxide (Sr(OH)

2)

Magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)

2)

Calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2)

Lithium hydroxide (LiOH)
Rubidium hydroxide (RbOH)
The cations of these strong bases appear in the first and second groups of the periodic table (alkali and earth alkali
metals).
Acids with a pKa of more than about 13 are considered very weak, and their conjugate bases are strong bases.

Superbases
Group 1 salts of carbanions, amides, and hydrides tend to be even stronger bases due to the extreme weakness of
their conjugate acids, which are stable hydrocarbons, amines, and dihydrogen. Usually these bases are created by
adding pure alkali metals such as sodium into the conjugate acid. They are called superbases, and it is impossible
to keep them in water solution because they are stronger bases than the hydroxide ion. As such, they deprotonate
the conjugate acid water. For example, the ethoxide ion (conjugate base of ethanol) in the presence of water
undergoes this reaction.
CH
3CH
2O
+H
2O CH
3CH
2OH + OH

Here are some superbases:

Butyl lithium (n-C4H9Li)

Lithium diisopropylamide (LDA) [(CH3)2CH]2NLi
Lithium diethylamide (LDEA) (C
2H
5)
2NLi

Sodium amide (NaNH2)

Sodium hydride (NaH)
Lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide [(CH
3)
3Si]
2NLi

Bases as catalysts
Basic substances can be used as insoluble heterogeneous catalysts for chemical reactions. Some examples are
metal oxides such as magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, and barium oxide as well as potassium fluoride on
alumina and some zeolites. Many transition metals make good catalysts, many of which form basic substances.
Basic catalysts have been used for hydrogenations, the migration of double bonds, in the Meerwein-PonndorfVerley reduction, the Michael reaction, and many other reactions.

Uses of bases

Sodium hydroxide is used in manufacture of soap, paper and a synthetic fiber called "rayon".
Calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) is used in the manufacture of bleaching powder.
Magnesium hydroxide is used as an 'antacid' to neutralize excess acid in the stomach and cure indigestion.
Sodium carbonate is used as washing soda and for softening hard water.
Sodium hydrogen carbonate is used as baking soda in cooking food, for making baking powders, as an
antacid to cure indigestion and in soda acid fire extinguisher.

Etymology of the term

The concept of base stems from an older alchemichal notion of "the matrix":
The term base appears to have been first used in 1717 by the French chemist, Louis Lmery, as a synonym for
the older Paracelsian term matrix. In keeping with 16th-century animism, Paracelsus had postulated that naturally
occurring salts grew within the earth as a result of a universal acid or seminal principle having impregnated an
earthy matrix or womb... Its modern meaning and general introduction into the chemical vocabulary, however, is
usually attributed to the French chemist, Guillaume-Franois Rouelle... Rouelle explicitly defined a neutral salt as
the product formed by the union of an acid with any substance, be it a water-soluble alkali, a volatile alkali, an
absorbent earth, a metal, or an oil, capable of serving as a base for the salt by giving it a concrete or solid form.
Most acids known in the 18th century were volatile liquids or spirits capable of distillation, whereas salts, by their
very nature, were crystalline solids. Hence it was the substance that neutralized the acid which supposedly
destroyed the volatility or spirit of the acid and which imparted the property of solidity (i.e., gave a concrete base) to
the resulting salt.
William Jensen, The origin of the term "base"

Citric acid is a weak organic acid with the formula C H O . It is a natural preservative/conservative which
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occurs naturally in citrus fruits and is also used to add an acidic or sour taste to foods and drinks. In biochemistry,
the conjugate base of citric acid, citrate, is important as an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in
the metabolism of all aerobic organisms. It consists of 3 carboxyl (R-COOH) groups.
Citric acid is a commodity chemical, and more than a million tons are produced every year by fermentation. It is
used mainly as anacidifier, as a flavoring, and as a chelating agent.