Strong Bases

Quaternary Ammonium and Phosphonium Hydroxides are good strong bases

Quaternary ammonium hydroxides have the potential to bring great simplicity to the area of base-induced reactions in organic chemistry. Their utility has been demonstrated in a wide variety of organic reactions, including:

  • Aldol Condensations
  • Claisen CondensationsStrong Organic Bases
  • Sonogashira Couplings
  • Suzuki Couplings
  • Robinson Annulations
  • Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitutions
  • Alkylation of Malonates

SACHEM’s manufacturing technologies enable the production of small and large molecular weight quat hydroxides that are available in water and in organic solvents. These products offer excellent alternatives to traditional bases such as sodium and potassium hydroxide, alkoxides, amides, ammonium hydroxide, and amines and can enhance performance because of their unique properties.

SACHEM’s low molecular weight materials are:

  • Soluble in most organic solvents
  • Non-aqueous solutions which can be rendered nearly anhydrous
  • Easily removed – their thermal decomposition leaves behind only volatile products that can easily be removed under vacuum
  • Responsible for enhanced reactivity due to looser ion pairing than is possible with metal hydroxides, even with crown ethers (Large organic cation).

All of our organic bases can provide greater reactivity of the hydroxide for:

  • High pH
  • An organically soluble base
  • An enabling technology for difficult reactions
  • Faster reaction times
  • Flexible process design
  • Aqueous and non-aqueous forms



According to Arrhenius, bases are compounds that releases hydroxide ions OH– in aqueous solution. Strong bases are those bases which can dissociates completely to give hydroxide ions in aqueous solution.

  • Lithium hydroxide- LiOH
  • Sodium hydroxide- NaOH
  • Potassium hydroxide- KOH
  • Rubidium hydroxide- RbOH
  • Cesium hydroxide- CsOH
  • Calcium hydroxide- Ca(OH)2
  • Strontium hydroxide- Sr(OH)2
  • Barium hydroxide- Ba(OH)2
"Strong Bases"