HSAB theory Acids-bases

The Hard-Soft-Add-Base (HSAB) theory was developed by Pearson in 1963. According to this theory, Lewis acids and Lewis bases are divided into two groups on one hand hard acids and bases, which are usually small, weakly polarizable species with highly localised charges, and on the other hand soft acids and bases which are large, polarizable species with delocalised charges. A selection of Lewis acids, ordered according to their hardness in aqueous solution is presented in Table 1.3. 

The theory predicts high stabilities for hard acid - hard base complexes, mainly resulting from electrostatic interactions and for soft acid - soft base complexes, where covalent bonding is also important Hard acid - soft base and hard base - soft acid complexes usually have low stability. Unfortunately, in a quantitative sense, the predictive value of the HSAB theory is limited. Thermodynamic analysis clearly shows a difference between hard-hard interactions and soft-soft interactions. In water hard-hard interactions are usually endothermic and occur only as a result of a gain in entropy, originating from a liberation of water molecules from the hydration shells of the... 

Several alternative attempts have been made to quantify Lewis-acid Lewis-base interaction. In view of the HSAB theory, the applicability of a scale which describes Lewis acidity with only one parameter will be unavoidably restricted to a narrow range of struchirally related Lewis bases. The use of more than one parameter results in relationships with a more general validity ". However, a quantitative prediction of the gas-phase stabilities of Lewis-acid Lewis-base complexes is still difficult. Hence the interpretation, not to mention the prediction, of solvent effects on Lewis-add Lewis-base interactions remains largely speculative. 

These concepts play an important role in the Hard and Soft Acid and Base (HSAB) principle, which states that hard acids prefer to react with hard bases, and vice versa. By means of Koopmann s theorem (Section 3.4) the hardness is related to the HOMO-LUMO energy difference, i.e. a small gap indicates a soft molecule. From second-order perturbation theory it also follows that a small gap between occupied and unoccupied orbitals will give a large contribution to the polarizability (Section 10.6), i.e. softness is a measure of how easily the electron density can be distorted by external fields, for example those generated by another molecule. In terms of the perturbation equation (15.1), a hard-hard interaction is primarily charge controlled, while a soft-soft interaction is orbital controlled. Both FMO and HSAB theories may be considered as being limiting cases of chemical reactivity described by the Fukui ftinction. 

According to Yatsimirskii, group (2) and (3) species are equivalent to Pearson s hard acids and bases, and group (4), (5) and (6) species correspond to Pearson s soft acids and bases. This classification is of more value than HSAB theory to our subject. It can be seen that all cementforming anions come from group (3) and cations from groups (3), (4) and (5). Thus, the bonding in cement matrices formed from cation-anion combinations is not purely a but contains some n character. 

Cation-selective ionophores are the most successful in polymeric ISEs and selectivi-ties exceeding ten orders of magnitude became quite common. The cation-ionophore binding occurs dominantly due to Lewis interactions and could be understood in terms of hard and soft acid and bases theory (HSAB). While hard base oxygen atoms originate from ester, ether or carbonyl functionalities, and interact with hard acid alkaline cations, the softer sulfur or nitrogen atoms better bind with transition metal ions. Cation... 

Figures 11(a) and 11(b) [112] show the variation of Ni-Ge-P deposition rate and Ge content as a function of aspartic acid and Ge(IV) concentration, respectively. A relatively low P content, ca. 1-2 at%, was observed in the case of films exhibiting a high concentration of Ge (> 18 at%). Like other members of its class, which includes molybdate and tungstate, Ge(IY) behaves a soft base according to the hard and soft acids and bases theory (HSAB) originated by Pearson [113, 114], capable of strong adsorption, or displaying inhibitor-like behavior, on soft acid metal surfaces. In weakly acidic solution, uncomplexed Ge(IV) most probably exists as the hydrated oxide, or Ge(OH)4, which, due to acid-base reactions, may be more accurately represented as [Gc(OH)4 nO ] ".

This chapter is intended to provide basic understanding and application of the effect of electric field on the reactivity descriptors. Section 25.2 will focus on the definitions of reactivity descriptors used to understand the chemical reactivity, along with the local hard-soft acid-base (HSAB) semiquantitative model for calculating interaction energy. In Section 25.3, we will discuss specifically the theory behind the effects of external electric field on reactivity descriptors. Some numerical results will be presented in Section 25.4. Along with that in Section 25.5, we would like to discuss the work describing the effect of other perturbation parameters. In Section 25.6, we would present our conclusions and prospects. 

In order to clarify the different behavior of anion 2 and 3 (Scheme 4.10) toward DMC, various anions with different soft/hard character (aliphatic and aromatic amines, alcohoxydes, phenoxides, thiolates) were compared with regard to nucleophilic substitutions on DMC, using different reaction conditions. Results were in good agreement with the hard-soft acid-base (HSAB) theory. Accordingly, the high selectivity of monomethylation of CH2 acidic compounds and primary aromatic amines with DMC can be explained by two different subsequent reactions, which are due to the double electrophilic character of DMC. The first... 

Later on, Pearson [75] introduced the concept of hard and soft acid and bases (HSABs) hard acids (defined as small-sized, highly positively charged, and not easily polarizable electron acceptor) prefer to associate with hard bases (i.e., substances that hold their electrons tightly as a consequence of large electronegativities, low polarizabilities, and difficnlty of oxidation of their donor atoms) and soft acids prefer to associate with soft bases, giving thermodynamically more stable complexes. According to this theory, the proton is a hard acid, whereas metal cations may have different hardnesses. 

Further examination of the results indicated that by invocation of Pearson s Hard-Soft Acid-Base (HSAB) theory (57), the results are consistent with experimental observation. According to Pearson s theory, which has been generalized to include nucleophiles (bases) and electrophiles (acids), interactions between hard reactants are proposed to be dependent on coulombic attraction. The combination of soft reactants, however, is thought to be due to overlap of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the electrophile and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the nucleophile, the so-called frontier molecular orbitals. It was found that, compared to all other positions in the quinone methide, the alpha carbon had the greatest LUMO electron density. It appears, therefore, that the frontier molecular orbital interactions are overriding the unfavorable coulombic conditions. This interpretation also supports the preferential reaction of the sulfhydryl ion over the hydroxide ion in kraft pulping. In comparison to the hydroxide ion, the sulfhydryl is relatively soft, and in Pearson s theory, soft reactants will bond preferentially to soft reactants, while hard acids will favorably combine with hard bases. Since the alpha position is the softest in the entire molecule, as evidenced by the LUMO density, the softer sulfhydryl ion would be more likely to attack this position than the hydroxide. 

Chemoselectivity can also be partially explained by a hard and soft acid and base (HSAB) theory.11 From HSAB theory, the lithium cation is a harder acid than the magnesium cation and, with a, 3-unsatu-rated ketones, C-l (carbonyl carbon) is a harder base than C-3 thus reactions of organolithiums are preferred at the the hard site, C-l, affording 1,2-addition products. The structure of the carbanion is also... 

The appearance of SnF+ ions is also observed in the mass spectra of (p- or m-CF3C6FLt)4Sn and it becomes the major ion in the spectra of the perfluorinated (CgFs Sn species. This fluorine migration has been rationalized in terms of hard/soft acid base theory (HSAB) by considering Sn2+ as a hard acid that favors fluoride transfer55. 

See also Retro-Hantzsch Hard acid or base, see HSAB theory Heating curves, in solid-state reactions,... 

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