Amphoteric vs amphiprotic

[Janice Xiao 1I]

What's the difference between amphiprotic and amphoteric, and can you give an example?

[Ayona Sengupta]

Both amphoteric and amphiprotic substances can act as acids and bases. It's just that one term, amphoteric refers to the whether the compound acts as an acid or base in a given medium and the other, amphiprotic, refers to a compound's ability to donate or accept a proton. Sometimes compounds are both amphoteric and amphiprotic, I'd say, given that one of our definitions for acids and bases is based on proton donation and acceptance (bronsted acids and bases).

There are cases where a substance is amphoteric like Al2O3 but cannot donate a proton i.e. not amphiprotic.