Strong Acid and Amphoteric?

[David Jen 1J]

When learning about Amphoteric molecules, I noticed that the strong acid H2S04, when deprotonated, has a similar structure as other Amphoteric molecules. However, can it be considered a amphoteric molecule if it is a strong acid?

[rachelhchem1I]

I believe that only HSO4- can be amphoteric because only the first version of it, H2SO4, is the strong acid. This is because it is harder to remove the second hydrogen, so HSO4 is not a strong acid

[Mirren Solomon Discussion 2G]

It might have to do with the fact that it can also accept a proton after it loses one. Since it is polyprotic, it may be able to gain a proton during the second reaction.

[Andreas Krumbein 1L]

First off, H₂SO₄ is indeed a strong acid, so its anion HSO₄^- cannot be amphoteric when it is in an aqueous solution, since the free H⁺ cannot bond to the HSO₄^- anions. However, if HSO₄^- is dissolved in a solution of a stronger acid then it can indeed have amphoteric qualities. If you drop the pH of the solution to around -2 then you can shift the acid-base equilibrium enough to cause HSO₄^- to exhibit some amphoteric behavior.