coordination compound

[katherinemurk 2B]

So within a coordination compound, are the ligands always going to be lewis bases, and the central atom or ion is the lewis acid or can it be switched around??

[Courtney Quan 1C]

By definition, ligands are and will always be Lewis bases that supply lone pairs of electrons (in other words, contribute all the electrons needed for a bond) in order to form coordinate covalent bonds with a central metal atom/ion that will be the Lewis acid. The central metal atom/ion bonded to ligands via coordinate covalent bonds will, as a whole, make up a coordination compound.