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Alkalinity of non-hydroxides

Bases are generally compounds that can neutralize an amount of acid. Both sodium carbonate and ammonia are bases, although neither of these substances contains OH groups. Both compounds accept H when dissolved in protic solvents such as water:

From this, a pH, or acidity, can be calculated for aqueous solutions of bases.

A base is also defined as a molecule that has the ability to accept an electron pair bond by entering another atom's valence shell through its possession of one electron pair. There are a limited number of elements that have atoms with the ability to provide a molecule with basic properties. Carbon can act as a base as well as nitrogen and oxygen. Fluorine and sometimes rare gases possess this ability as well. This occurs typically in compounds such as butyl lithium, alkoxides, and metal amides such as sodium amide. Bases of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen without resonance stabilization are usually very strong, or superbases, which cannot exist in a water solution due to the acidity of water. Resonance stabilization, however, enables weaker bases such as carboxylates; for example, sodium acetate is a weak base.