Bronsted vs Lewis acids

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Kaleb Tesfaye 1I
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Bronsted vs Lewis acids

Postby Kaleb Tesfaye 1I » Thu Jun 07, 2018 9:35 am

Is there any correlation between the definition of bronsted acids and Lewis acids. I can't seem to relate the two definitions.

Sarah Brecher 1I
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Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:02 am

Re: Bronsted vs Lewis acids

Postby Sarah Brecher 1I » Thu Jun 07, 2018 3:29 pm

The definition of a Lewis acid is an electron pair acceptor. The definition of a Bronsted acid is a proton donor. On page 609 of the textbook, it says that "a Bronsted acid is a supplier of one particular Lewis acid, a proton". This makes sense since the Bronsted acid donates the electron and the Lewis acid accepts the electron pair.

Celeste Martinez 1K
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Re: Bronsted vs Lewis acids

Postby Celeste Martinez 1K » Thu Jun 07, 2018 6:09 pm

A Bronsted acid is a proton donor while a Lewis acid accepts an electron pair.
A Bronsted base is a proton acceptor while a Lewis base donates an electron pair.

Hope this helped!

Yeo Bin Yook 1K
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Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:05 am

Re: Bronsted vs Lewis acids

Postby Yeo Bin Yook 1K » Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:17 am

lEwis Acids are Electron Acceptors.
lewis bases are electron donors.

brOnsted aciDs are prOton Donors.
bronsted bases are proton acceptors.

An easy way to memorize it is to look at the capitalized letters and correlate them with each other.
It is interesting because in a process like H+ becoming H, the H+ is an acid and H is the base. Each is either one or other.


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