lewis acid

[yoyohomieg5432]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

This question is from AAMC 9. I understand that OH- is an electron donor. so Al group must be the acceptor (lewis acid), but generally when the lewis acid accepts electrons from the base it will become more negatively charged (either+1 to 0 or 0 to -1). in this one oxidation state of OH- doesn't change and oxidation of aluminum is +3 (unchanged). where did that electron go????

 

[Like]

The aluminum compound has a negative charge and the positive sodium ion cancels it out.
This is not a redox reaction.

 

[yoyohomieg5432]

The aluminum compound has a negative charge and the positive sodium ion cancels it out.
This is not a redox reaction.

the NaALOH4 species is ionic bond, right? I can see then in that case that Na+ would associate with AlOH4-.

However, this is not how I understood ionic bonds. When you have an ionic bond like NaCl, the Na gave its outer electron to Cl so that they both have a full outer shell. Thus forming Na+ and Cl- that come together.

How is the ionic bond forming in the case of NaAlOH4? If AlOH4 is already negative charged I just don't see why sodium would donate another electron to it? Am I thinking about this wrong?