Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/paper-1/3/a/solution

The most acidic sites are: acetic-acid O–H, ; phenol O–H, ; ethanal alpha-CH, –; propyne terminal ≡C–H, . These are ordinary approximate organic-chemistry estimates; exact acidities depend on solvent and reference convention.
Acetic acid gives a carboxylate in which negative charge is delocalized over two oxygens through equivalent resonance structures. Phenol gives a phenoxide with delocalization into the aromatic system, but its important contributors are less equivalent and do not stabilize the charge as effectively as a carboxylate.
For ethanal, removal of a methyl hydrogen gives the enolate . The aldehydic hydrogen is not the preferred acidic site: removing it does not give this alpha-carbon/oxygen delocalization. For propyne, loss of the terminal hydrogen gives an acetylide with a lone pair in an orbital. Its greater s character stabilizes negative charge relative to an ordinary or carbanion; the methyl hydrogens are much less acidic.

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