Acid Radical and Basic Radical

Acidic Radical

An acid radical is the ionic part in an inorganic salt that comes from the acid during the neutralisation reaction. It is negatively charged and called an anion. An acid radical is mostly formed through the removal of a hydrogen ion from an acid. For example, the removal of a hydrogen ion from hydrochloric acid leads to the formation of an anion acidic radical, chloride radical.

Basic Radical

A Basic radical is the ionic part of an inorganic salt that comes from the base during the neutralisation reaction. It is positively charged and called a cation. A base radical is mostly formed through the removal of hydroxyl ions from a base. For, eg, the removal of hydroxide ions from sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) leads to the formation of a cation basic radical, sodium radical.

Differences between an Acidic and Basic Radical

An acidic radical and a basic radical differ from each other in so many ways. Some of the differentiating parameters include electrical charge, the process of formation, synonym, etc. Let us discuss them in detail.

1. Definition

An acidic radical is defined as an anion formed during the dissociative reaction of an inorganic salt, whereas a basic radical is a cation formed during the dissociative reaction and comes from a base.

2. Electrical Charge

An acidic radical comes from the acid part during the neutralisation reaction, so it has a negative charge, whereas a basic radical comes from the base part during the formation of inorganic salt and has a positive charge.

For example, an inorganic salt NaCl dissociates into Na+ ion and Cl- ion. Na+ ion is called a basic radical, and Cl- ion is called an acidic radical.

3. Synonyms

The acidic radicals that come from the acid part of the salt bear a negative charge and therefore are called Anion, whereas the basic radicals that come from the base part of the inorganic salt bear a positive charge and are called cation.

4. Process of Formation

An acidic radical is formed mostly through the removal of a positive hydrogen ion from an acid, whereas a basic radical is formed mostly through the removal of a hydroxyl ion or its analogues from the base.

For e.g., removal of H+ from hydrochloric acid forms anionic acidic chloride radical.

Similarly, removal of OH- ion from the sodium hydroxide forms cationic sodium radical.

5. Examples

Examples of acidic radicals include anionic radicals such as chloride, sulphate, bromide, etc. And examples of basic radicals include cationic radicals such as sodium, zinc, potassium, etc.

Significance of Acidic and Basic Radicals

Acidic and basic radicals are formed as reactive intermediates during several inorganic reactions. These are highly reactive species that catalyse several types of chemical reactions. To summarise, the following are the important points related to these radicals-

• Acidic and basic radicals are reactive intermediate species

• These play an important role in the catalysis of chemical reactions

• These determine the rate of a reaction by acting in rate-determining steps of the chemical reactions

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• Difference between AC and DC generator
• Difference Between a Formula and a Function
• Difference Between sp, sp2, and sp3 Hybridisation

Conclusion

An acidic radical is defined as an anion formed during the dissociative reaction of an inorganic salt, whereas a basic radical is a cation formed during the dissociative reaction and comes from a base. However, there are many more parameters upon which an acidic radical differs from a basic radical.