ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I was asked to choose which one is a stronger base between Cl-

Question

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

I was asked to choose which one is a stronger base between Cl- and Br-.

Of course if you look at the pka of their conjugate acids, HCl has -7 and HBr has -9, it gives away that Cl- would be the stronger base

However, I was trying to solve it thinking what if i don't know the pka. This screws up the logic in me since Cl- is more electronegative than Br-, and it would be much better at stabilizing itself due to the innate electronegative it has. Is the size of the atoms coming to the issue?

What is it -- this bugs me a lot.

Thank you!

Explanation / Answer

For comparing basic strength of elements in same group we compare their charge density(charge/size). As we go down the group charge density decrease due to increased size. Hence basic strength decrease.

So Cl- stronger base then Br-

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