The interaction of stronger acids and bases produce weaker conjugated acids and bases. The reaction may fully proceed in a forward direction depending on the relative acidity and basicity of both the reactants and the products (Karty, 2014). To measure the strength of an acid, the dissociated constant, Ka, is used. The Ka, value is measured based on how easily the acid donates a hydrogen ion and is therefore measured in terms of pKa: pKa = - log Ka …show more content…
Carboxylic acids are the most acidic (pKa around 5) and phenols are weaker acids in comparison to carboxylic acids (pKa around 10). With the addition of NaHCO3 and NaOH, strong bases, the carboxylic acid and phenol are much stronger acids resulting in the reaction proceeding in the forward