Acids and Bases Flashcards
What is a Lewis acid?
an electron acceptor in the formation of a covalent bond; electrophiles; often positive
What is a Lewis base?
an electron donor in the formation of a covalent bond; nucleophiles; often negative
What are coordinate covalent bonds?
covalent bonds in which both electrons in the bond came from the same starting atom (Lewis base)
What is a Bronsted-Lowry acid?
a species that can donate a proton (H+)
What is a Bronsted-Lowry base?
a species that can accept a proton (H+)
What is the acid dissociation constant?
Ka = measures the strength of an acid in solution
How do you calculate Ka?
Ka = [H+][A-]/[HA]
How do you calculate pKa?
pKa = -logKa
What kind of pKa’s correlate to bases and acids?
Acids have small/negative pKa; bases have larger pKas
What are nucleophiles?
defined as “nucleus-loving” species with either lone pairs or pi bonds that can form new bonds to electrophiles; tend to be bases
What is the distinction between nucleophile strength and base strength?
Nucleophile strength is based on relative rate of reaction with a common electrophile (kinetic property); base strength is related to the equilibrium position of a reaction (thermodynamic property)
What are electrophiles?
defined as “electron-loving” species with a positive charge or positively polarized atom that accepts an electron pair when forming new bonds with a nucleophile
What are heterolytic reactions?
a bond was broken and both electrons are give to one of the two products
What are leaving groups?
are the molecular fragments that retain the electrons after heterolysis
What is oxidation?
refers to an increase in oxidation state - loss of electrons; increasing the number of bonds to oxygen (or other atoms besides C and N)
