On the formation of proton-shared and contact ion pair forms during the dissociation of moderately strong acids: an Ab initio molecular dynamics investigation.

Acid ionization and dissociation are phenomena that play a fundamental role in chemistry and biology, but their microscopic details are largely unknown. We use ab initio molecular dynamics to identify and characterize various structures that are formed along the pathway of dissociation of trifluoroacetic acid (pK(a) = 0.5). The present results demonstrate that solutions of moderately strong (-1