Magical acid

Structural formula
General
Surname	Magical acid
Molecular formula	FSO 3 H SbF 5
External identifiers / databases
CAS number 23854-38-8 EC number 245-915-8 ECHA InfoCard 100,041,727 PubChem 16211378 Wikidata Q420196
properties
Molar mass	316.82 g mol −1
Physical state	liquid
safety instructions
GHS labeling of hazardous substances danger H and P phrases H: 302 + 332-314-411 P: 260-280-301 + 312 + 330-303 + 361 + 353-304 + 340 + 310-305 + 351 + 338
As far as possible and customary, SI units are used. Unless otherwise noted, the data given apply to standard conditions .

Magic acid is a mixture of the super acid fluorosulfonic acid (HSO ₃ F) and the Lewis acid antimony (V) fluoride (SbF ₅ ). By combining a Brønsted acid with a Lewis acid, a particularly high acid strength is achieved (up to H ₀ ≈ −27 on the Hammett acidity scale ):

${\displaystyle \mathrm {SbF_{5}+\ FSO_{3}H\ \longrightarrow \ HSO_{3}^{+}+SbF_{6}^{-}} }$

The name magic acid comes from Joachim Lukas, a German post-doctoral student in George A. Olah's group . After a Christmas party, Lukas put a piece of a candle in magical acid and obtained a clear solution. The peculiarity of this process is that paraffin , which consists of saturated hydrocarbons , can not be dissolved or destroyed by "normal" acids ( hydrochloric acid , sulfuric acid , etc.). NMR Spectroscopic studies laid the formation of the tertiary - butyl - cation close. Ned Arnett first mentioned the term magic acid in the chemical literature. The components of the mixture had been known for a long time: fluorosulfonic acid since the 19th century and antimony pentafluoride since 1904 ( Otto Ruff ).

A former doctoral student of Olah, John J. Svoboda, founded Cationics , which acquired the naming rights for Magic Acid .

The magic acid was not only used by Olah's group to stabilize carbocations, but also plays a role in Olah's vision of a new chemical basis for the production of organic fuels ( methanol economy ), for example as a replacement for the toxic, volatile hydrogen fluoride as a catalyst of gasoline production.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} data sheet Magic Acid from Sigma-Aldrich , accessed on January 29, 2017 ( PDF ).
2. ↑ ^{a b} G. A. Olah, My search for carbocations and their role in chemistry. (PDF file; 2.26 MB), Nobel Lecture in Chemistry, 1994 .
3. ↑ GA Olah, MB Comisarow, CA Cupas, CU Pittman, Jr., Stable Carbonium Ions. XIII. Generation of Stable Alkyl, Alkylaryl, and Cycloalkyl Carbonium Ions from Alcohols in Fluorosulfonic Acid and Antimony Pentafluoride , J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 1965 , 87 , 2997; doi: 10.1021 / ja01091a033 .
4. ↑ Molecule of the week: Fluorosulfuric Acid and Antimony Pentafluoride, ACS, May 2, 2016 ( Memento of the original from January 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Magic acid , Wordpress