Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry
Lewis acid:
An electron pair acceptor. This term is interchangeable with
electrophile
.
In this
mechanism step
the
tert
-butyl carbocation
is a Lewis acid (an
electrophile
) because it is accepting an electron pair from
water
. This is an example of a Lewis acid which is not a
Bronsted acid
.
In this
mechanism step
the
oxonium ion
is a Lewis acid (an
electrophile
) because it is accepting an electron pair from
water
. The
oxonium ion
is also a
Bronsted acid
because it is donating a
proton
to
water
.
Related terms:
Lewis base
,
nucleophile
,
Bronsted-Lowry acid
,
Bronsted base
,
Bronsted-Lowry base
,
superacid
,
curved arrows
,
Lewis structure
,
Lewis dot structure
Wikipedia entry
Return to glossary index