https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.I03310
@[email protected], @[email protected] or @[email protected] at which the total @[email protected] of a sample does not change during a chemical reaction or a physical change of the sample.
Notes:
- A simple example occurs when one molecular entity is converted into another that has the same @[email protected] at a given @[email protected] As long as the sum of the concentrations of the two molecular entities in the solution is held constant there will be no change in @[email protected] at this @[email protected] as the ratio of the concentrations of the two entities is varied.
- The name derives from the Greek words: isos: equal, the same, and sbestos: extinguishable.
- Contrary to a widely accepted idea, the existence of an isosbestic point does not prove that the reaction is a quantitative conversion of one species into a unique other species or that an equilibrium exists between only two species. The observation of isosbestic points only indicates that the @[email protected] of the reaction remains unchanged during the chemical reaction or the physical change of the sample, and that no secondary reactions occur during the considered time range, since \(A_{\lambda }l^{-1} = \sum_{i=1}^{n}\varepsilon _{i}(\lambda)\, c_{i}\) is invariant (\(A_{\lambda}\) is the @[email protected] at @[email protected] \(\lambda\), \(I\) is the optical path, \(\varepsilon_{i}\) is the @[email protected] of the species \(i\) of concentration \(c_{i}\)). For the reaction A + B → c C + d D + e E, with c, d, and e the percentages of the products C, D, and E, an isosbestic point will be observed at every @[email protected] where the condition \(\varepsilon_{A} + \varepsilon_{B} = c\, \varepsilon_{C} + d\, \varepsilon_{D} + e\, \varepsilon_{E}\), provided that the values of the percentages c, d, and e remain constant during the chemical reaction or the physical change. The use of the obsolete term @[email protected] is not recommended.