Can a a compound with a lone pair of electrons such as NH_3 be a nucleophile?

1 Answer
Callum S.
Nov 10, 2014

'Nucleophile' means 'nucleus loving' and is any group that attaches to a species with a positive charge, such as Rb^+, Cs^+ or Fr^+.

NH_3 (ammonia) can be a nucleophile, as can other Lewis bases, as they are electron donors. A Lewis base is any compound that reacts with a Lewis acid, such as H_3C^-, H_2N^- or H_2Sb^-. A Lewis acid is any substance that reacts with a Lewis base, such as Li^+, Na^+, K^+, Rb^+ or Cs^+.

enter image source here

Related questions
See all questions in Nucleophile vs. Base Strength
Impact of this question
3466 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License