Ochem question

[osims]

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Which of the following reagents is a lewis acid?

A)HNO3
B)SOCl2
C)BF3
D)P2O5
E)NH3

Answer is C

A lewis acid is something that accepts electrons (opposite from Bronsted-Lowry acid which donates electrons) but i still dont understand how BF3 would accept electrons over NH3. NH3 has a lone pair of electrons but BF3 doesnt so why would it accept an electron?

 

[sajjy]

Which of the following reagents is a lewis acid?

A)HNO3
B)SOCl2
C)BF3
D)P2O5
E)NH3

Answer is C

A lewis acid is something that accepts electrons (opposite from Bronsted-Lowry acid which donates electrons) but i still dont understand how BF3 would accept electrons over NH3. NH3 has a lone pair of electrons but BF3 doesnt so why would it accept an electron?

NH3 has a pair of electrons, so it can donate electrons by accepting an H+.
Where as BF3 has an empty p orbital, and so it can accept a pair of electrons.

 

[Corky Cacas]

NH3 has a pair of electrons, so it can donate electrons by accepting an H+.
Where as BF3 has an empty p orbital, and so it can accept a pair of electrons.

I agree. B and Be are exceptions. B has an empty P shell so it wants to fill it up. but N has a loan pair which wants to donate it.

 

[joonkimdds]

Which of the following reagents is a lewis acid?

A)HNO3
B)SOCl2
C)BF3
D)P2O5
E)NH3

Answer is C

A lewis acid is something that accepts electrons (opposite from Bronsted-Lowry acid which donates electrons) but i still dont understand how BF3 would accept electrons over NH3. NH3 has a lone pair of electrons but BF3 doesnt so why would it accept an electron?

I am a noob and don't know much about it but I just googled it and found an interesting website. This is very simple and easy to look at so I want you to take a peek at it.
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/tuckerman/honors.chem/lectures/lecture_21/node4.html
even I who had no idea about acid base understood it at a first glance so I am sure you can~ 🙂
I hope this helps.
p.s. this website has the picture of BF3 reacting with NH3 so...u know what i am saying 🙂