Ammonia solution
Ammonia solution, also known as ammonia water, ammonium hydroxide, ammoniacal liquor, ammonia liquor, aqua ammonia, aqueous ammonia, or (inaccurately) ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH(aq). Although the name ammonium hydroxide suggests an alkali with composition [NH][OH], it is actually impossible to isolate samples of NHOH. The ions NH and OH do not account for a significant fraction of the total amount of ammonia except in extremely dilute solutions.
Hydroxide
The hydroxide ion is intermediate in nucleophilicity between the fluoride ion F, and the amide ion . The hydrolysis of an ester
also known as saponification is an example of a nucleophilic acyl substitution with the hydroxide ion acting as a nucleophile. In this case the leaving group is an alkoxide ion, which immediately removes a proton from a water molecule to form an alcohol. In the manufacture of soap, sodium chloride is added to salt out the sodium salt of the carboxylic acid; this is an example of the application of the common ion effect.