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Intact carbonic acid is a viable protonating agent for biological bases

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: Significance The paper demonstrates the previously unappreciated feature that, despite its instability, carbonic acid (CA) acts as an effective protonating agent consistent with its pK a value, which is here accurately determined over the full physiological temperature range. The equilibrium concentration of CA in the blood plasma is about 70× larger than (H + ) aq , and, given CA’s acidic reactivity established here, it is concluded that, in contrast to current thought, CA should be considered a far more important protonation agent in the blood than is (H + ) aq . These conclusions should be also considered when evaluating conditions resulting in CA concentration increase, such as acidosis in the physiological context and the gradual acidification of the oceans in the environmental setting.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1909498116

Authors: Daniel Aminov, Dina Pines, Philip M. Kiefer, Snehasis Daschakraborty, James T. Hynes, Ehud Pines