Sunday, May 27, 2018

inorganic chemistry - Why is carbon dioxide considered a Lewis acid?


$\ce{CO2}$ is considered a Lewis acid. How it is an acid? According to Lewis: “species that accept an electron pair are acids”. But $\ce{CO2}$ can't accept electron pairs because oxygen and carbon both are electron sufficient (have complete octets). If the reason is within a lone pair of electrons on oxygen then ammonia ($\ce{NH3}$), which also has a lone pair of electrons, should be acidic, too. But ammonia basic in nature.



So why can carbon dioxide be considered a Lewis acid?




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periodic trends - Comparing radii in lithium, beryllium, magnesium, aluminium and sodium ions

Apparently the of last four, $\ce{Mg^2+}$ is closest in radius to $\ce{Li+}$. Is this true, and if so, why would a whole larger shell ($\ce{...