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I am facing difficulty in the following problem.
Arrange the following compound in decreasing order of acidity.
It is clear that conjugate base of (Q) is more stable.hence it is most acidic.in R) there is much steric hinderence so my view is that it should be less acidic.however I am not sure about it.
And this is the type of question for which Professor Mayr made us chemistry students rote memorise typical $\mathrm{p}K_\mathrm{a}$ values. Here are some.
\begin{array}{lc}\hline \text{compound type} & \text{typical }\mathrm{p}K_\mathrm{a}\\ \hline \text{alcohol} & \approx 15 \\ \text{ketone} & \approx 20\\ \text{carboxylic acid} & \approx 5\phantom{0}\\ \text{secondary }\ce{C-H} & \approx 45\\ \hline\end{array}
Therefore, the order is $\mathrm{Q > P > R > S}$
