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Quaternary Ammonium Salt

  • Page ID
    42299
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    A quaternary ammonium salt is an ionic compound that has the following general structural formula.

    quaternaryammoniumsalt1.png

    n = positive whole number
    R1, R2, R3, and R4 could be hydrogen atoms, alkyl groups, aryl groups, or any combination thereof. A could be any anion present in salt.

    eg:

    quaternaryammoniumsalt2.png

    The word “salt” in quaternary ammonium salt is a misnomer because a quaternary ammonium salt can not be prepared by an acid-base reaction.

    see also quaternary ammonium ion, primary ammonium salt, secondary ammonium salt, tertiary ammonium salt


    This page titled Quaternary Ammonium Salt was last modified on Mon, 28 Feb 2022 14:16:16 GMT and is shared under a All Rights Reserved (used with permission) license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Gamini Gunawardena via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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