Introduction

Abstract

In this book, the term ‘ionization constant’ means any constant which is used to measure the strength of acids and bases. Although sometimes referred to as ‘dissociation constant’, this term is vague because ionization forms only a corner of the vast field of dissociation phenomena. Thus substrates dissociate from enzymes, micelles dissociate into monomers, and iodine molecules dissociate into iodine atoms. Many other such equilibrium processes are known, but the majority of these dissociations are not ionizations. On the other hand zwitterions are ionized but they are not dissociated.