A medium having a high
acidity, generally greater than that of 100 wt.% sulfuric acid. The common superacids are
made by dissolving a powerful
Lewis acid
(e.g.
SbF5) in a suitable
Brønsted acid
such as
HF or
HSO3F.
(An equimolar mixture of
HSO3F and
SbF5
is known by the trade name '
magic acid'.) In a biochemical context '
superacid catalysis' is sometimes used to denote
catalysis by metal ions analogous to
catalysis by hydrogen ions. By analogy, a compound having a very high
basicity, such as lithium diisopropylamide, is called a '
superbase'.
Source:
PAC, 1994, 66, 1077
(Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994))
on page 1169
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
