Phosphorous Acid (Noun)
Meaning
A clear or yellow monobasic acid (H3PO2).
Classification
Nouns denoting substances.
Examples
- Phosphorous acid is a reducing agent, especially for the nitro and azo groups, and also serves as a mild reducing agent in the synthesis of some heterocyclic compounds.
- In aqueous solution, phosphorous acid acts as a tribasic acid and ionizes into the phosphate ion (PO43-) via three successive steps, but in anhydrous conditions it exists as the dimer (HPO2)2.
- The hydrogen atom of phosphorous acid's phosphonyl group (-P(OH)2) can easily be substituted with organo-functional groups such as -aryl or -alkyl to give organic phosphines.
- A dilute solution of phosphorous acid (typically around 1.0 mol dm-3) can also serve as an acidifying agent to acidify another aqueous solution of chemicals without much side reactions or influence from another group, or reagents of secondary and unanticipated consequences.
- Organic synthesis utilizing phosphorous acid have generated special attention from research communities working in catalytic syntheses or advanced and intricate carbon chemistry that involved sensitive heterocycles with useful side-chain components for synthetic medicine production.