Is H2S a lewis acid or a lewis base?

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Is H2S a lewis acid or a lewis base?

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Answer 1 · 2016-01-17T00:22:35

$H_{2} S$ $"H"_2"S"$ is usually a Lewis acid, but it can also act as a Lewis base.

Explanation:

$H_{2} S$ $"H"_2"S"$ is a weak acid.

$H_{2} O: + H_{2} S ⇌ H_{3} O^{+} + {SH}^{-}$ $"H"_2"O:" + "H"_2"S" ⇌ "H"_3"O"^+ + "SH"^-$

$H_{2} S$ $"H"_2"S"$ is a Brønsted acid, because it is donating a proton to the water.

It is also a Lewis acid, because it is accepting a pair of electrons to form the $O-H$ $"O-H"$ bond in hydronium ion.

$H_{2} S$ $"H"_2"S"$ has two lone pairs on the $S$ $"S"$ , so it can also act as a Lewis base.

In the presence of a strong acid like $H_{2} {SO}_{4}$ $"H"_2"SO"_4$ , the $H_{2} S$ $"H"_2"S"$ becomes protonated.

$H_{2} S: + H_{2} {SO}_{4} \to H_{3} S^{+} + {HSO}_{4}^{-}$ $"H"_2"S:" + "H"_2"SO"_4 → "H"_3"S"^+ + "HSO"_4^-$

Here the $H_{2} S$ $"H"_2"S"$ is donating an electron pair to form a bond to the $H$ $"H"$ of $H_{2} {SO}_{4}$ $"H"_2"SO"_4$ , so it is acting as a Lewis base.

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Is H2S a lewis acid or a lewis base?

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