INTRODUCTION

1.2 Water and Acid Base System

1.2.1 Properties of Water

Dr. ANG GEIK YONG

Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute
(iPROMISE),
Level 7, FF3, Universiti Teknologi MARA
(UiTM),
Puncak Alam Campus,
42300 Bandar Puncak Alam,
Selangor, Malaysia.
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 Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this lecture, students
should be able to:
• understand water and polarity
• define hydrogen bonds
• describe covalent and non-covalent
bonds

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Water is essential to living organisms

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 Why water is important?
• Principle component in most cells
• Acts as solvent in most biochemical
processes that are essential for living
organism (a.k.a universal solvent)
• E.g. of biological functions:-
– Temperature regulation in organism
– Reactant and product in photosynthesis and
cellular respiration
– Involved in formation of peptide bonds in
protein synthesis
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 Water and polarity
• Ionic bond > covalent bond > hydrogen bond > van
der Waals
• Covalent bond = a bond that involves the sharing of
electron pairs between atoms
• Electronegativity = tendency of an atom to attract
electrons to itself

Atoms of same element have equal electronegativity

- electrons are shared equally in a bond

NON-POLAR BOND 5
 Water and polarity
If atoms with differing electronegativity form a bond,
the electrons are not shared equally. There is a higher
probability that the bonding electron will be closer to
the more electronegative atom.

This give rise to a partial positive charge (δ+) and a

partial negative charge (δ-)

POLAR BOND 6
Electronegativity

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Electronegativity of
Carbon : 2.5
Oxygen : 3.5
Hydrogen : 2.1

Type of bond?

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2 Electronegativity of
Carbon : 2.5

Dipole moment
Oxygen : 3.5
Hydrogen : 2.1

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• Molecule may be nonpolar even though the bonds
are polar because of the molecule’s geometry
• The two C=O bonds in CO2 are polar, but since the
molecule is linear, the attraction of the oxygen for
the electrons on both sides cancelled out each other
= zero dipole
• Water is a bent molecule and the uneven sharing of
the electrons in the two bonds is not cancelled out as
in CO2
 The bonding electrons are more
likely to be found at the oxygen
end than the hydrogen end of the
molecule
 Bonds with positive and negative
ends are called dipoles 11
 What does all that information means?
• Polarity of water molecules allows hydrogen bonds
to be formed
• Hydrogen bond: the attractive interaction between
dipoles when
– The positive end of one dipole is a hydrogen atom
bonded to an atom with high electronegativity,
(most commonly O, N or F) and
– the negative end of the other dipole is another
electronegative atom with an unshared pair of
electrons

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1. Hydrogen atom bonded to an atom with
high electronegativity
2. An electronegative atom with lone pair of
electrons

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• Hydrogen bond donor: the group comprising the
electronegative atom that is covalently bonded to
hydrogen
• Hydrogen bond acceptor: the electronegative atom
that contributes the unshared pair of electrons to
the interaction
How many hydrogen bond(s) can be formed per water molecule?
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 Hydrogen Bonding
hydrogen hydrogen
bond donor bond accepto r
R
Water and a
O H O
hydroxyl gro up
H H
Water and the carbonyl group
O H O C of an a ldehyde, keto ne, ca rboxylic
H acid, ester, o r amide
R
An amino group and
N H O a hydroxyl group
H Import ant
in
An amino group and
proteins
N H O C a carbonyl group
and
nucleic
An amino group and acids
N H N another nitro gen-
containing group

Important in stabilization of 3-D structures of biological

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molecules such as: DNA, RNA, proteins.
The importance of hydrogen bonds
• Individual hydrogen bond is weaker than
covalent bond but collectively, they can exert a
very strong force
– significant effect on the physical properties

– High boiling point & melting point than other

molecules of its size due to extensive H-bonding
– Large amount of energy needed to disrupt these
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bonds
 Why does ice floats in water

Ice has a lower density than liquid water because the

fully hydrogen bonded array in an ice crystal is less
densely packed than that in liquid water.
(liquid water is less extensively hydrogen bonded) 17
 Cohesion & adhesion of water
• Cohesion: water molecules are strongly attracted to
one another resulting in a high surface tension

• Adhesion: The polarity of water molecules allow

them to be attracted and bind to other polar surfaces
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 Water as a universal solvent

• Water is capable of dissolving a variety of different

substances compared to other liquids
• Three types of molecules characteristics when mixed
with water
– Hydrophilic – water loving
– Hydrophobic – fear of water
– Amphipatic – part of the molecule is hydrophilic
while another part is hydrophobic

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Water's polarity allows it to dissolve other polar
substances very easily.

• When a polar substance is put in water, the

positive ends of its molecules are attracted to
the negative ends of the water molecules, and
vice versa
• The attractions cause the molecules of the
new substance to be mixed uniformly with the
water molecules
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 Solvent Properties of Water

Question: Why do some chemicals dissolve in

water while others don’t?
The solvent properties of water is largely determined
by its polar nature
 Ionic compounds with full charges
NaCl, KCl

 Polar compounds with partial charges

Ethyl alcohol, acetone

These compounds are hydrophilic 21

Hydration shells

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Why do oil and water mixed together
separate into layers?

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• Oil and water don't mix because oil is made up of
non-polar molecules while water molecules are polar
in nature.
• Non-polar substances do not have negative and
positive charges
• Non-polar compounds are insoluble in water
because of its weak attraction and the absence of
dipoles
• The attraction of water molecules for one another
will push the non-polar compound away and
separate from them from the aqueous environment
– e.g. Hydrocarbons are hydrophobic

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• Oil and water don't mix because oil is made up of
non-polar molecules while water molecules are polar
in nature.
• Non-polar substances do not have negative and
positive charges
• Non-polar compounds are insoluble in water
because of its weak attraction and the absence of
dipoles
• The attraction of water molecules for one another
will push the non-polar compound away and
separate from them from the aqueous environment
– e.g. Hydrocarbons are hydrophobic

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• Interactions between nonpolar molecules are very
weak

• depends on the attraction

between short-lived
temporary induced dipole
moments

• called van der Waals

interactions

• allow nonpolar molecules

to condense to liquid or
freeze to solids
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• Some molecules are called amphipathic – i.e. have
both polar (hydrophilic) and nonpolar (hydrophobic)
portions in a single molecule

• Structure like this tends to form micelles in the

presence of water
• Ionized polar head of amphiphatic molecules are in
contact with water and non-polar tails are
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sequestered from water
 Exercise
Electronegativity of
Carbon : 2.5
Oxygen : 3.5
Hydrogen : 2.1

Tetrahedral Triangular
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Thank you

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