Brønsted-Lowry and Lewis acid-base theories
Teorías ácido-base de Brønsted-Lowry y de Lewis
- Date
- 1923 · confidence high
- Place
- Copenhagen, Denmark (Brønsted); Cambridge, England (Lowry); Berkeley (Lewis)
- Credited to
- Johannes Brønsted and Thomas Lowry (independently); Gilbert N. Lewis
- People
- 👤 Gilbert N. Lewis1875–1946👤 Johannes Brøndsted1890–1965👤 Thomas Lowry1874–1936
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
An acid is a proton donor and a base a proton acceptor (Brønsted-Lowry), extending the concept to non-aqueous solvents and conjugate pairs; Lewis generalises it to electron-pair acceptors and donors. The framework for the whole of polar reaction chemistry.
Brønsted and Lowry published the same year, independently.
What it led to
- Acid-base catalysis
- Mechanistic organic chemistry
- Superacids
Built on
Made possible
- Lewis acid catalysts (rationalised Friedel-Crafts)