Rate and equilibrium constants for the deprotonation of a series of phenyl-substituted 2-tetralones in aqueous sodium hydroxide have been determined. A Bronsted plot of log k for deprotonation vs pK(a) of the appropriate 2-tetralone is linear with a slope (-alpha) of -0.60 +/- 0.01, except for the point corresponding to 6-nitro-2-tetralone (Ib). The negative deviation of Ib from the correlation indicates that the transition state for deprotonation of 2-tetralone is imbalanced, with delocalization of charge into the phenyl ring lagging behind proton transfer. A semiquantitative assessment of the charge distribution in both the fully formed anion and the transition stare for deprotonation was calculated from these results and C-13 NMR spectra of the 2-tetralone anion in methanol/water mixtures. Although approximately twice as much negative charge is localized on the oxygen than on the enolate carbon in the anion, slightly more charge is on the enolate carbon in the transition state.