Lewis acid—bases

Still another type of adsorption system is that in which either a proton transfer occurs between the adsorbent site and the adsorbate or a Lewis acid-base type of reaction occurs. An important group of solids having acid sites is that of the various silica-aluminas, widely used as cracking catalysts. The sites center on surface aluminum ions but could be either proton donor (Brpnsted acid) or Lewis acid in type. The type of site can be distinguished by infrared spectroscopy, since an adsorbed base, such as ammonia or pyridine, should be either in the ammonium or pyridinium ion form or in coordinated form. The type of data obtainable is illustrated in Fig. XVIII-20, which shows a portion of the infrared spectrum of pyridine adsorbed on a Mo(IV)-Al203 catalyst. In the presence of some surface water both Lewis and Brpnsted types of adsorbed pyridine are seen, as marked in the figure. Thus the features at 1450 and 1620 cm are attributed to pyridine bound to Lewis acid sites, while those at 1540... 

Thirdly, the intramolecular assodation of a solvent affects the Lewis acid - base equilibrium Upon... 

The XeF+ cation forms Lewis acid—base adduct cations containing N—Xe—F linkages with nitrogen bases that are resistant to oxidation by the strongly oxidizing XeF+ cation having an estimated electron affinity of the XeF+ cation of 10.9 eV (12). The thermally unstable colorless salt,... 

Tetracyanoethylene is colorless but forms intensely colored complexes with olefins or aromatic hydrocarbons, eg, benzene solutions are yellow, xylene solutions are orange, and mesitylene solutions are red. The colors arise from complexes of a Lewis acid—base type, with partial transfer of a TT-electron from the aromatic hydrocarbon to TCNE (8). TCNE is conveniendy prepared in the laboratory from malononitrile [109-77-3] (1) by debromination of dibromoma1 ononitrile [1855-23-0] (2) with copper powder (9). The debromination can also be done by pyrolysis at ca 500°C (10). 

Cosolvents ana Surfactants Many nonvolatile polar substances cannot be dissolved at moderate temperatures in nonpolar fluids such as CO9. Cosolvents (also called entrainers, modifiers, moderators) such as alcohols and acetone have been added to fluids to raise the solvent strength. The addition of only 2 mol % of the complexing agent tri-/i-butyl phosphate (TBP) to CO9 increases the solubility ofnydro-quinone by a factor of 250 due to Lewis acid-base interactions. Veiy recently, surfac tants have been used to form reverse micelles, microemulsions, and polymeric latexes in SCFs including CO9. These organized molecular assemblies can dissolve hydrophilic solutes and ionic species such as amino acids and even proteins. Examples of surfactant tails which interact favorably with CO9 include fluoroethers, fluoroacrylates, fluoroalkanes, propylene oxides, and siloxanes. 

R. G. Pearson, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85 3533 (1963) T. L. Ho, Hard and Soft Acids and Bases in Organic Chemistry, Academic Press, New York, 1977 W. B. Jensen, The Lewis Acid-Base Concept, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1980, Chapter 8. 

Neutral compounds such as boron trifluoride and aluminum chloride form Lewis acid-base complexes by accepting an electron pair from the donor molecule. The same functional groups that act as lone-pair donors to metal cations can form complexes with boron trifluoride, aluminum chloride, and related compounds. 

The chemistry of Lewis acid-base adducts (electron-pair donor-acceptor complexes) has stimulated the development of measures of the Lewis basicity of solvents. Jensen and Persson have reviewed these. Gutmann defined the donor number (DN) as the negative of the enthalpy change (in kcal moL ) for the interaction of an electron-pair donor with SbCls in a dilute solution in dichloroethane. DN has been widely used to correlate complexing data, but side reactions can lead to inaccurate DN values for some solvents. Maria and Gal measured the enthalpy change of this reaction... 

Drago and co-workers have correlated a large body of enthalpies of adduct formation in Lewis acid-base systems, including some solvents as reactants, with this four-parameter equation ... 

It is clear that some boranes are amphoteric Lewis acid/bases — that is they can act either as electron-pair donors as above or as electron-pair acceptors (e.g. in L.BH3 and L.B1H7). It follows that a borane donor could conceivably ligate... 

SF4 is unusual in apparently acting both as an electron-pair acceptor and an electron-pair donor (amphoteric Lewis acid-base). Thus pyridine forms a stable 1 1 adduct C5H5NSF4 which presumably has a pseudooctahedral (square-pyramidal) geometry. Likewise CsF (at 125°) and Me4NF (at —20°) form CsSFs and [NMe4]+[SFs] (Fig. 15.21a). By contrast, SF4 behaves as a donor to form 1 1 adducts with many Lewis acids the stability decreases in the sequence SbFs > AsFs > IrFs > BF3 > PF5 > ASF3. In view of the discussion on... 

Complex [(CXI )Ir(/j,-pz)(/i,-SBu )(/j,-Ph2PCH2PPh2)Ir(CO)] reacts with iodine to form 202 (X = I) as the typical iridium(II)-iridium(II) symmetrical species [90ICA(178)179]. The terminal iodide ligands can be readily displaced in reactions with silversalts. Thus, 202 (X = I), upon reaction with silver nitrate, produces 202 (X = ONO2). Complex [(OC)Ir(/i,-pz )(/z-SBu )(/i-Ph2PCH2PPh2)Ir(CO)] reacts with mercury dichloride to form 203, traditionally interpreted as the product of oxidative addition to one iridium atom and simultaneous Lewis acid-base interaction with the other. The rhodium /i-pyrazolato derivative is prepared in a similar way. Unexpectedly, the iridium /z-pyrazolato analog in similar conditions produces mercury(I) chloride and forms the dinuclear complex 204. 

Compositions of Lewis acid-based ionic liquids are generally referred to by the mole frac-... 

Ionic liquids derived from Lewis acids based on Ti, Nb, Sn, Sb [NR3R ]X/SbE5 Atofma, France 2001 25... 

Moreover, these experiments reveal some unique properties of the chlorostan-nate ionic liquids. In contrast to other known ionic liquids, the chlorostannate system combine a certain Lewis acidity with high compatibility to functional groups. The first resulted, in the hydroformylation of 1-octene, in the activation of (PPli3)2PtCl2 by a Lewis acid-base reaction with the acidic ionic liquid medium. The high compatibility to functional groups was demonstrated by the catalytic reaction in the presence of CO and hydroformylation products. 

Borane is very reactive because the boron atom has only six electrons in its valence shell. In tetrahydrofuran solution, BH3 accepts an electron pair from a solvent molecule in a Lewis acid-base reaction to complete its octet and form a stable BH3-THF complex. 

Reduction Conversion of Nitriles into Amines Reduction of a nitrile with LiAIH4 gives a primary amine, RNH . The reaction occurs by nucleophilic addition of hydride ion to the polar C=N bond, yielding an imine anion, which still contains a C=N bond and therefore undergoes a second nucleophilic addition of hydride to give a dianion. Both monoanion and dianion intermediates are undoubtedly stabilized by Lewis acid-base complexafion to an aluminum species, facilitating the second addition that would otherwise be difficult Protonation of the dianion by addition of water in a subsequent step gives the amine. 

The Lewis acid-base model is the most general of the three we have considered. 

When a complex ion is formed from a simple cation, the electron pairs required for bond formation come solely from the ligands. Reactions such as these, in which one species donates an electron pair to another, are referred to as Lewis acid-base reactions. In particular—... 

More recently considered candidates are large molecular anions with delocalized anionic charge, which offer low lattice energies, relatively small ion-ion interaction, and hence sufficient solubility and relatively large conductivity. Delocalization of the charge is achieved by electron-with drawing substituents such as -F or - CF3. Furthermore, these anions show a good electrochemical stability to oxidation. In contrast to Lewis acid-based salts they are chemically more stable with various solvents and often also show excellent thermal stability. 

---