Does hypochlorous acid from hydrogen bonds with itself or water?
Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) does not significantly form hydrogen bonds with itself due to the nature of its molecular structure and the electronegativity difference between its atoms. However, hypochlorous acid can participate in hydrogen bonding with water molecules.
In a water solution, hypochlorous acid acts as a weak acid and can partially dissociate into the hypochlorite ion (OCl⁻) and a hydrogen ion (H⁺), which is more accurately represented as a hydronium ion (H₃O⁺) in the aqueous environment. The oxygen atoms in both water and hypochlorous acid have lone pairs of electrons that can act as hydrogen bond acceptors, while the hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to oxygen can act as hydrogen bond donors due to the polarity of the O-H bond.
Thus, in an aqueous solution, water molecules can form hydrogen bonds with the oxygen of the O-H group in hypochlorous acid as well as with each other. These interactions are significant and play important roles in determining the physical properties and behaviors of the solution.