1. Tardigrade
  2. Question
  3. Chemistry
  4. The Lewis acid strength of BBr3, BCl3 and BF3 is in the order

Question Error Report

Thank you for reporting, we will resolve it shortly

Back to Question

Q. The Lewis acid strength of $BBr_3, BCl_3$ and $BF_3$ is in the order

KVPYKVPY 2015

Solution:

Given compounds of boron are electron deficient molecule, which have tendency to accept a pair of electrons to achieve stable electronic configuration and thus behave as Lewis acids. Lewis acid strength of $BBr_3, BCl_3$ and $BF_3$ increases in the order
$BF_3 < BCl_3 < BBr_3$.
$BF_3$ has least acidity due to effective back bonding between $2p$-orbital of $B$ and $2p$-orbital of $F$. Whereas, no such back bonding is observed in $BBr_3$ and thus has maximum acidity.