Hello,
I'm a second term O-Chem student and this is my first post to this forum. So to begin, I would like to say thanks to the community for being here!
My question/comment has to do with the pK values of Hydrocarbons.
-According to my O-chem book, ethane has a pKa of 50,
-According to wikipedia, Potassium Hydroxide has a pKa of 16.29 (converted from -2.29 pKb)
This seems amazing to me that ethane is much stronger a base than KOH, which I was taught in my first year of General Chemistry to be revered as one of the few "strong bases".
Can anyone offer any insight here? I'm just trying to get a better understanding. Is ethane used as a base in procedures much? If I'm not mistaken ethane is a gas at room temp and average pressure, so I'm guessing that's why my class didn't use it in our wet chemistry labs. But why would we be taught about "strong" bases like the hydroxides (KOH, Ba(OH)2, CsOH, NaOH...)
What's going on here?!
Andrew Mylko
Eugene, OR
Lane Community College