Talk:Phosphite anion

I always hear about phosphorous in relationship to water pollution. Could somebody write about this substances role in water pollution and it's environmental impact?

You probably mean phosphates. There is a big difference between phosphorus (P), phosphorous (HPO₃^2-), and phosphate (PO₄^3-).

See phosphate and eutrophication for the details, but in a nutshell, algae consume phosphates and oxygen to produce energy. If large amounts of phosphates are introduced into a body of water, the algae population increases exponentially and rapidly consumes the oxygen dissolved in the water. When this happens, every organism that depends on dissolved oxygen dies out and the lake loses its ability to sustain life.

P.S. Could you please sign your posts with "~~~~" in the future?

Darrien 07:34, 2005 Apr 29 (UTC)

As the phosphite article mentions briefly, salts of phosphorous acid are being considered for fertilizers, apparently because they are more soluble than, say, ammonium phosphate.--Smokefoot 22:23, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

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I disagree with the formula. Phosphite ion should be PO₃³⁻. I do not buy the explanation that Phosphorous acid is a diprotic acid, since the hydrogen bonded directly to the central phosphorus atom is not ionizable because oxygen is much more electronegative than phosphorus, so it would make sense for all the hydrogens to bind to the oxygens.

I agree, the dianion is initially a little surprising to many, but check a first-year chem book, and if that does not work, read further - say Greenwood and Earnshaw, which underpins a lot of the inorganic pages.--Smokefoot 12:48, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

I am a turfgrass manager dealing with many variety of organic and synthetic fertilizers. People are beginning to talk about the use of Phosphite materials vs Phosphate(or the usual Phosphorous in fertilizer N-P-K formulations.) Regular phosphate fertilizers come in the form of P₂O₅ while the new phosphite fertilizers are H₃PO₃. Can anyone help me in explaining what is the main distinction between the two compounds are. I am trying to understand the role of each as it affects the nutritional role and nutrient availability to plant cell health. Basicly why one is better or worse than the other?

Thanks

--Hotlunch2000 (talk) 20:14, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

The formula of the phosphite ion

The naming of phosphorus oxoanions (oxyanions historically) and acids is a mess. While we might not like it the ion is HPO₃²⁻ not PO₃^3-. I am not even sure if the PO₃^3- ion is known. The more rational naming of IUPAC will probably never be adopted- so we just have to live with the confusing naming we have inherited from our predecessors. I guess the confusion is "compounded" by the naming of P(OR)₃ as phosphites. --Axiosaurus (talk) 18:13, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

As a by the by- just to add to the confusion - IUPAC actually would name the PO₃³⁻ ion phosphite and HPO₃²⁻ phosphonate- as they recommend the name phosphonic acid for HPO(OH)₂.--Axiosaurus (talk) 11:29, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

This article is about phosphonate... my chemistry class teaches that the Phosphite ion is PO₃^3-.

I've made a picture to show the structure of HPO₃²⁻. It's from a real crystal structure (ref given on image description page), so no-one can argue that H should be bonded to O. I've also made a 2D pic of the structure, showing two possible resonance forms. I'm not sure if either of these are any use in the article, but if they are, go ahead and insert them.

Ben (talk) 14:00, 24 November 2008 (UTC)