What is the effect of increasing the oxidation state of a transition metal on its ability to act as a Lewis acid?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
What is the effect of increasing the oxidation state of a transition metal on its ability to act as a Lewis acid?
Increases
Decreases
No effect
Varies unpredictably
Increasing the oxidation state of a transition metal generally increases its ability to act as a Lewis acid due to a higher positive charge attracting electron pairs more strongly.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
1 item
Q
Q: What is the effect of increasing the oxidation state of a transition metal on its ability to act as a Lewis acid?
Solution: Increasing the oxidation state of a transition metal generally increases its ability to act as a Lewis acid due to a higher positive charge attracting electron pairs more strongly.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand what a Lewis acid is. A Lewis acid is a substance that can accept an electron pair from another substance.
Step 2: Know that transition metals can have different oxidation states, which means they can have different positive charges.
Step 3: Realize that as the oxidation state of a transition metal increases, its positive charge also increases.
Step 4: Understand that a higher positive charge means the metal can attract electron pairs more strongly.
Step 5: Conclude that because of this stronger attraction, a transition metal with a higher oxidation state is better at acting as a Lewis acid.
