Differences between Bronsted and Lewis

[Irene Kang 3F]

Is there a specific reason why he labeled the acids in friday 11/19 lecture as Bronsted acids instead of Lewis acids? When someone mentions either one, they should still also be thought of as the other one too right? The names Bronsted and Lewis just account for the two different ways to see what the acid does in a reaction right?

[Lisa Ramos 1C]

The thing is that being a bronsted acid has a more restrictive definition compared to being a lewis acid, where a bronsted acid is a proton donor and a lewis acid is an electron pair acceptor. Being one doesn't mean being the other. For example, to be a bronsted acid is to be able to donate a hydrogen cation H+. That's why an acid like BrF3 is a lewis acid, but not a bronsted acid.

[Grace_Wu]

Hi! I will use acid as the explanation, this also applies to base.
The bronzed acid is a proton donor, and can only be an acid when base is present to accept its acidic proton. Bronsted includes compounds and ions as acids.
For Lewis acid, it is an electron pair acceptor. The Bronsted acid is a supplier of one particular Lewis acid, which is a proton.
Lewis is more general than bronsted, which also includes metal atoms.
Hope this helps.

[Rose Arcallana 2B]

Basically, they are the difference in the definition of the concept you are looking at.

Lewis structures keep track of electrons, therefore a lewis acid accepts the E-, while a Lewis base donates E-

Bronsted looks at protons, so a bronsted acid donates PROTONS, while a bronsted base accepts PROTONS, this is why all Bronsted acids are lewis acids and bronsted bases are lewis bases.

BUT not the other way around because not all lewis acids have a H+ to give, thus they cannot be classified as a bronsted acid.:)

[Tony Chen 1F]

Take acids. Bronsted acid is a proton donor, which means it has to have H+ to give off (i.e. it has to include at least 1 hydrogen in its molecular formula). Lewis acid, on the other hand, is an electron acceptor, which means a Lewis acid doesn't necessarily need to have hydrogen (for example BF3)