Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid
For many decades, carbonic acid (H2CO3)—formed from CO2 and water— was regarded as a “nonexisting” free molecule that only existed in equilibrium with its deprotonated ions, bicarbonate (HCO3−) and carbonate (CO32−), in solution. Both H2O and CO2 are very stable, and any covalently bound product of...
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ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:107888 2023-05-15T15:52:12+02:00 Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid Bucher, Götz Sander, Wolfram 2014-10-31 http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/107888/ unknown American Association for the Advancement of Science Bucher, G. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/5673.html> and Sander, W. (2014) Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid. Science <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Science.html>, 346(6209), pp. 544-545. (doi:10.1126/science.1260117 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1260117>) Articles PeerReviewed 2014 ftuglasgow https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1260117 2020-01-10T00:56:14Z For many decades, carbonic acid (H2CO3)—formed from CO2 and water— was regarded as a “nonexisting” free molecule that only existed in equilibrium with its deprotonated ions, bicarbonate (HCO3−) and carbonate (CO32−), in solution. Both H2O and CO2 are very stable, and any covalently bound product of these two molecules will be thermodynamically less stable. However, theoretical work in the late 1970s suggested that kinetic barriers could prevent H2CO3 decomposition (1), and in 1987, H2CO3 was shown to have a finite lifetime in gas-phase experiments (2). In the 1990s, two independent syntheses of solid H2CO3 were published, but the two solids had rather different spectroscopic properties (3, 4). In a series of publications (5–7), these two forms of carbonic acid were assigned to polymorphic structures that, upon sublimation, were claimed to produce different structures in the gas phase. A recent, very elegant study by Reisenauer et al. (8) resolves these discrepancies and demonstrates that there is only one form of solid H2CO3. The second “polymorph” was identified as the methyl ester of carbonic acid. Article in Journal/Newspaper Carbonic acid University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications Science 346 6209 544 545 |
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University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications |
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description |
For many decades, carbonic acid (H2CO3)—formed from CO2 and water— was regarded as a “nonexisting” free molecule that only existed in equilibrium with its deprotonated ions, bicarbonate (HCO3−) and carbonate (CO32−), in solution. Both H2O and CO2 are very stable, and any covalently bound product of these two molecules will be thermodynamically less stable. However, theoretical work in the late 1970s suggested that kinetic barriers could prevent H2CO3 decomposition (1), and in 1987, H2CO3 was shown to have a finite lifetime in gas-phase experiments (2). In the 1990s, two independent syntheses of solid H2CO3 were published, but the two solids had rather different spectroscopic properties (3, 4). In a series of publications (5–7), these two forms of carbonic acid were assigned to polymorphic structures that, upon sublimation, were claimed to produce different structures in the gas phase. A recent, very elegant study by Reisenauer et al. (8) resolves these discrepancies and demonstrates that there is only one form of solid H2CO3. The second “polymorph” was identified as the methyl ester of carbonic acid. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bucher, Götz Sander, Wolfram |
spellingShingle |
Bucher, Götz Sander, Wolfram Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid |
author_facet |
Bucher, Götz Sander, Wolfram |
author_sort |
Bucher, Götz |
title |
Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid |
title_short |
Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid |
title_full |
Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid |
title_fullStr |
Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid |
title_full_unstemmed |
Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid |
title_sort |
clarifying the structure of carbonic acid |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/107888/ |
genre |
Carbonic acid |
genre_facet |
Carbonic acid |
op_relation |
Bucher, G. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/5673.html> and Sander, W. (2014) Clarifying the structure of carbonic acid. Science <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Science.html>, 346(6209), pp. 544-545. (doi:10.1126/science.1260117 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1260117>) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1260117 |
container_title |
Science |
container_volume |
346 |
container_issue |
6209 |
container_start_page |
544 |
op_container_end_page |
545 |
_version_ |
1766387470297989120 |