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Article: A protonated superacid, [H.sub.3][SO.sup.+.sub.4]. (Inorganic Chemistry).(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Chemistry and Industry
- Article date:
- March 4, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Society of Chemical Industry. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By definition, pure sulphuric acid constitutes the border to the superacids,
Minkwitz and coworkers have succeeded in isolating and structurally characterising a salt in which this superacid is itself protonated (Figure 1; R Minkwitz, R Seelbinder, and R Schobel, Angew Chem Int Ed 2002, 41, 111). The trihydroxysulphonate cation, [H.sub.3][[SO.sup.+].sub.4], is formed in the autoprotolysis of sulfuric acid and its existence had been confirmed by cryoscopy, conductivity measurements and mass spectrometry, but its isolation in pure form is complicated by the tendency of sulfuric acid to self-dehydration: [2H.sub.2][[SO.sup.+].sub.4] = [HS.sub.2][[O.sup.-].sub.7] + ...