Acids & Bases 2

Main Concepts of Acids and Bases:

Arrhenius concept, Bronsted-Lowery Concept, Lewis Concept

For thousands of years people have known that vinegar, lemon juice and many other foods

taste sour. However, it was not until a few hundred years ago that it was discovered why

these things taste sour - because they are all acids. The term acid, in fact, comes from the

Latin term acere, which means "sour". While there are many slightly different definitions of

acids and bases, in this lesson we will introduce the fundamentals of acid/base chemistry.

In the seventeenth century, the Irish writer and amateur chemist Robert Boyle first labeled

substances as either acids or bases (he called bases alkalies) according to the following

characteristics:

• Acids taste sour, are corrosive to metals, change litmus (a dye extracted from

lichens) red, and become less acidic when mixed with bases.

• Bases feel slippery, change litmus blue, and become less basic when mixed

with acids.

While Boyle and others tried to explain why acids and bases behave the way they do, the first

reasonable definition of acids and bases would not be proposed until 200 years later. Now

there are three concepts of acids and bases in current use; though there are more than three

concepts of acids and bases. The main three concepts are:

• Arrhenius concept

• Bronsted-Lowery concept

• Lewis concept
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Arrhenius Concept: The Arrhenius definition of acid-base reactions is a more simplified

acid-base concept devised by Svante Arrhenius, which was used to provide a modern

definition of bases that followed from his work with Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald in

establishing the presence of ions in aqueous solution in 1884, and led to Arrhenius receiving

the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1903. According to this concept,

Acid: An acid is a compound that releases H+ ions in water.

Base: A base is a compound that releases OH- ions in water.

For Example, HCl is an Arrhenius acid and NaOH is an Arrhenius base.

HCl(aq) H+(aq) + Cl-(aq)

NaOH(aq) Na+(aq) + OH-(aq)

Limitation of Arrhenius Concept: Arrhenius concept of acids and bases proved to be

useful in the study of chemical reactions. However it has the following limitations:

1. Free H+ and OH- ions do not exist in water: The H+ and OH- ions produced by

acids and bases respectively do not exist in the water in the free state. They are

associated with water molecules to form complex ions through hydrogen bonding.

Thus the H+ forms a hydronium ion.

H2O + H+ H3O+

Similarly OH- ion forms the complex H3O2-.

2. Limited to water only: Arrhenius defined acids and bases as compounds

producing H+ and OH- ions in water only. But a truly general concept of acids and

bases should be appropriate to other solvents as well.

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3. Some bases do not contain OH-: Arrhenius base is one that produces OH- ions

in water. Yet there are compounds like NH3, CaO that are bases but contain no OH-

ions in their original formulation.

Bronsted-Lowery Concept: In chemistry, the Bronsted-Lowry theory is an acid-base

theory, proposed independently by Johannes Nicolaus Bronsted and Thomas Martin

Lowry in 1923. It is based upon the idea of protonation of bases through the de-

protonation of acids—that is, the ability of acids to "donate" hydrogen ions (H+) or protons to

bases, which "accept" them. Unlike the Arrhenius definition, the Bronsted-Lowry definition

does not refer to the formation of salt and water, but instead to the formation of conjugate

acids and conjugate bases, produced by the transfer of a proton from the acid to the base.

According to this concept,

Acid: An acid is a compound that can donate a proton.

Base: A base is a compound that can receive a proton.

So the Bronsted–Lowry concept can be defined by the reaction

acid + base conjugate base + conjugate acid.

The conjugate base is the ion or molecule remaining after the acid has lost a proton, and the

conjugate acid is the species created when the base accepts the proton. The reaction can

proceed in either forward or backward direction; in each case the acid donates a proton to the

base.

For example, the removal of H+ from hydrochloric acid (HCl) produces the chloride ion (Cl−),

the conjugate base of the acid:

HCl → H+ + Cl−
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The addition of H+ to the hydroxide ion (OH−), a base, produces water (H2O), its conjugate

acid:

H+ + OH− → H2O

A wide range of compounds can be classified in the Bronsted–Lowry framework: mineral

acids and derivatives such as sulfonates, phosphonates, etc., carboxylic acids, amines, carbon

acids, 1,3-diketones such as acetylacetone, ethyl acetoacetate or Meldrum's acid and many

more.

Typical donor solvents used in acid-base chemistry, such as dimethyl sulphoxide or

liquid ammonia have an oxygen or nitrogen atom with a lone pair of electrons that can used

to form a bond with a proton.

Bronsted-Lowery Concept is Superior to Arrhenius Concept:

1. Much wider scope: Arrhenius concept of acids and bases is restricted to the study of

substances which can release H+ or OH- ions in water. Bronsted–Lowry concept

embraces all molecules and ions that can donate a proton and those which can accept

a proton.

2. Not limited to aqueous solutions: A Lewis base, defined as an electron-pair donor, can

act as a Bronsted–Lowry base as the pair of electrons can be donated to a proton. This

means that the Bronsted–Lowry concept is not limited to aqueous solutions. Any

donor solvent, S, can act as a proton acceptor.

AH + S: A- + SH+

3. Release of OH- not necessary to qualify as a base.

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Lewis Concept: The Lewis definition of acid-base reactions, devised by Gilbert N. Lewis in

1923 is a further generalization that encompasses the Bronsted-Lowry definition and the

solvent-system definitions. The two theories are distinct but complementary to each other as

a Lewis base is also a Bronsted-Lowry base, but a Lewis acid need not be a Bronsted-

Lowry acid. According to this concept,

Acid: An acid is an electron pair acceptor.

Base: A base is an electron pair donor.

Lewis pictured an acid and base as sharing the electron pair provided by the base. This

creates a covalent bond between the Lewis acid and Lewis base. The resulting combination is

called a complex. If the Lewis acid is denoted by A and the Lewis base by B, then the

fundamental equation of the Lewis theory can be written as,

A (Lewis acid) + :B (Lewis Base) → A—B (Complex)

For example,

H+ + NH3: → NH4+

B2H6 + 2H− → 2BH4−

Advantages of Lewis Concept:

1. All the Bronsted-Lowery acid base reactions are covered by the Lewis concept. It is

so because the transfer or gain of a proton is accompanied by the loss of an electron-

pair in both types of reactions.

2. Many reactions which do not involve transfer of a proton are also covered by the

Lewis theory. For example,

 Acids & Bases 7

BF3 + NH3 BF3-NH3