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Lewis acid

American  

noun

Chemistry.
  1. any substance capable of forming a covalent bond with a base by accepting a pair of electrons from it.


Lewis acid British  

noun

  1. a substance capable of accepting a pair of electrons from a base to form a covalent bond Compare Lewis base

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Lewis acid

First recorded in 1940–45; named after G. N. Lewis

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

They found that adding a key ingredient could help: a chemical known as a Lewis acid added to the liquid solution redirected those molecules.

From Science Daily Jan. 2, 2024

The species donating the electron pair that compose the bond is a Lewis base, the species accepting the electron pair is a Lewis acid, and the product of the reaction is a Lewis acid-base adduct.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

Identify the Lewis acid and the Lewis base among the reactants.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

As the two examples above illustrate, Brønsted-Lowry acid-base reactions represent a subcategory of Lewis acid reactions, specifically, those in which the acid species is H+.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

In addition, transition metals form a wide variety of stable coordination compounds, in which the central metal atom or ion acts as a Lewis acid and accepts one or more pairs of electrons.

From Textbooks Feb. 14, 2019

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