Hello everyone,

I am working my way through an old Morrison and Boyd 3rd edition Organic Chemistry book. I was unable to find a solutions manual, so I thought this the best way to pose questions that I wasn't 100 percent sure about or could use a little more clarification on. Thanks in advance for the help anyone passes along through my, probable, multiple questions.

 

The first question I had was from one that had the answer in the book: What is the Lowry-Bronsted acid in (a) HCl dissolved in water; (b) HCl (unionized) dissolved in benzene? © Which solution is the more strongly acidic?

 

I got (a) and (b), but I said that (a) was more acidic than (b) because the HCl is undissolved, aka just hydrogen chloride. Am I just missing something?

(a) sounds correct. The HCl is donating a proton, which is what a Lowry-Bronsted acid is defined to do.

Ionised HCl is more active than unionised HCl.

Ionisation makes acids capable to react readily, because acids get dissociated when dissolved in water.