Skip to the content
Browse the library

Phosphoric Acid

H3O4P, 97.994 g/mol. Its structure, the values that were measured, the values that were calculated, and where each one came from.

verified recordInorganic compound8 measured properties

Drawn from the SMILES. It shows how the atoms are connected — not a photograph of a molecule, and not its shape in space.

Identifiers

Molecular formula
H₃O₄P
Molecular weight
97.994 g/mol
Exact mass
97.976895 g/mol
IUPAC name
phosphoric acid
SMILES
O=P(O)(O)O
InChI
InChI=1S/H3O4P/c1-5(2,3)4/h(H3,1,2,3,4)
InChIKey
NBIIXXVUZAFLBC-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Both are open without an account.

Measured properties

Values somebody obtained from a sample and published. Where two sources report the same property they are both shown, in the units each used — a disagreement between them is information, and averaging it away would be inventing a number neither one gave.

Boiling Point
greater than 266 °F at 760 mmHg (USCG, 1999)measured · CAMEO Chemicals
407 °Cmeasured · Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)
Melting Point
108 °F (NIOSH, 2024)measured · CAMEO Chemicals
42.4 °Cmeasured · Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)
Density
1.892 at 77 °F (USCG, 1999) - Denser than water; will sinkmeasured · CAMEO Chemicals
1.8741 (100% solution); 1.6850 (85% solution); 1.334 (50% solution), all at 25 °C /Phosphoric acid solutions/measured · Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)
Solubility
Miscible (NIOSH, 2024)measured · CAMEO Chemicals
Soluble in water, alcohol; soluble in 8 volumes of 3:1 ether:alcohol mixturemeasured · Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)
Vapor Pressure
0.03 mmHg (NIOSH, 2024)measured · CAMEO Chemicals
0.02 [mmHg]measured · Haz-Map, Information on Hazardous Chemicals and Occupational Diseases
LogP
-2.150measured · Human Metabolome Database (HMDB)
-0.77 (estimated)measured · ILO-WHO International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs)
Viscosity
3.86 mPa.s (40% solution at 20 °C).measured · Environment Canada; Tech Info for Problem Spills: Phosphoric Acid (Draft) p.4 (1982)
40 mm²/s at 20 °Cmeasured · reference compound database
Refractive Index
Index of refraction: 1.34203 at 17.5 °C/D, 10% solution; 1.35032 at 17.5 °C/D, 20% solution; 1.35846 at 17.5 °C/D, 30% solution /Phosphoric acid solutions/measured · O'Neil, M.J. (ed.). The Merck Index - An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck and Co., Inc., 2006., p. 1266

Calculated properties

Derived from the structure rather than from a sample. These are reproducible and they are not measurements: a calculated partition coefficient and a measured one can differ by a long way, and where both exist they are listed apart on purpose.

Molecular weight
97.995 g/molcalculated · reference compound database
Average mass of one molecule, from reference compound database.
Exact mass
97.97689557 Dacalculated · reference compound database
Mass of the most common isotopic form.
XLogP3
-2.1calculated · reference compound database
Estimated oil/water partition, computed by reference compound database.
Polar surface area
77.8 Ųcalculated · reference compound database
Polar surface area as computed by reference compound database.
Complexity
49calculated · reference compound database
A rough measure of how intricate the structure is.
H-bond donors
3calculated · reference compound database
H-bond acceptors
4calculated · reference compound database
logP
-0.9286calculated · chemistry engine
Estimated preference for oil over water. Higher means more oil-like.
Topological polar surface area
77.76 Ųcalculated · chemistry engine
Surface area from polar atoms; relates to how easily a molecule crosses membranes.
H-bond donors
3calculated · chemistry engine
Atoms that can donate a hydrogen bond.
H-bond acceptors
1calculated · chemistry engine
Atoms that can accept a hydrogen bond.
Rotatable bonds
0calculated · chemistry engine
Single bonds the molecule can freely twist around.
Molar refractivity
14.2629 cm³/molcalculated · chemistry engine
Relates to the molecule's polarisability.
Fraction sp³ carbons
0calculated · chemistry engine
Share of carbon atoms with tetrahedral bonding.
QED drug-likeness
0.3419calculated · chemistry engine
Quantitative estimate of drug-likeness (0–1).

What it is made of

Elements

Percentages are of the molecular weight above, worked out the same way the molar mass calculator does it.

Structure

Heavy atoms, hydrogen excluded
5
Total atoms, hydrogen included
8
Rings
0
Aromatic rings
0
Stereocentres
0
Formal charge
0

Functional groups

  • Phosphate

    A phosphorus centre bonded to four oxygens.

Matched by structural pattern, not by a measurement.

The molecule in three dimensions

Rotate and inspect the atoms. Loaded only when you ask, so the page stays light.

The drawing above is a diagram of what is bonded to what. A molecule is not flat, and the model here is one low-energy shape generated from the connectivity — useful for seeing which groups can reach each other, and not a measured structure. A real sample is a population of conformations, interconverting.

Reactions it appears in

No documented reaction with a written procedure and a source involves Phosphoric Acid yet.

Other names for it

The systematic name on this record is phosphoric acid.

The sources also call it ORTHOPHOSPHORIC ACID, o-Phosphoric acid, Wc-reiniger, Acidum phosphoricum, Sonac, Phosphorsaeure, Evits, Acide phosphorique, Phosphoricum acidum, Acido fosforico, Phosphorsaeureloesungen.

Structurally related

Nothing structurally close to Phosphoric Acid has a page here yet.

Seen alongside it in reaction records

Molecules that appear in the same recorded reactions as Phosphoric Acid. This says nothing about structure: most of them are the bases, solvents, ligands and catalysts the chemistry needed, and they are here because somebody put them in the same flask.

Where these values came from

compound record.

What this page does not claim

The identifiers are what the source record holds, copied rather than recomputed. Measured values are reported as their source gave them, units and all; calculated values are marked as calculated and are not measurements. Where a field is absent the page says so, because a blank cell reads as a zero and a guessed value reads as a fact.

Nothing here is a hazard assessment, a purity statement or advice about handling a sample. A flash point quoted from a safety database is a number somebody published, not a judgement by us about whether this molecule is safe for what you intend.