I have what I believe many here will consider a rather simple question, but one for which I have yet to find an answer while searching the Internet for the subject matter. It is a question which was on a test I took for undergraduate analytical chemistry years ago, I answered incorrectly, and to whose author I no longer have access.
"Hydroxybenzene is a monoprotic acid with a pKa of 9.98. Under what conditions will this acid act as a strong acid? Under what conditions will its conjugate base act as a strong base? Provide a brief justification."
From what I have read, having a pKa of this value would indicate that hydroxybenzene is a weak acid. This would mean that the reaction which the Ka describes does not proceed to products to an appreciable extent. I read somewhere that an increase in temperature causes endergonic reactions to increase formation of products, so I figure that this could potentially be a correct answer to this question. Another condition which would seem to make sense is if hydroxybenzene were added to a strongly basic solution. These are the only conditions I conceived. I didn't make any attempts at the second part of the problem, but it would seem that similarly conceived conditions would work for this scenario. Although, I believe the reverse reaction of the weak base being protonated to form phenol is favored, which would require a decrease in temperature to push the reaction forward(?)
While I provided my thoughts above, any feedback or further ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Matt