Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and can act as
both a Brønsted acid and a Brønsted base through intramolecular
proton transfer (see Chapter 16, pg. 709 of the textbook). The
simplest amino acid known is glycine, NH2CH2CO2H (Ka = 4.5 ×10–3
and Kb = 6.0 ×10–5 ), and it can exist in three forms in
equilibrium with one another:
H2N––CH2––COOH +H3N––CH2––COOH +H3N––CH2––COO–
H2N––CH2––COO–
Glycine cation zwitterion anion
(a) Write the equilibria corresponding to Ka and Kb of...