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Topic: Comparing Lewis acid ability of BH3 and AlH3  (Read 2096 times)

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Offline confusedstud

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Comparing Lewis acid ability of BH3 and AlH3
« on: November 04, 2018, 01:32:34 PM »
Would BH3 form a stronger complex with NMe3 than AlH3? Initially I thought so because B is more electronegative than Al and so it should form a bond more easily. But when I thought more about the this, B should be able to pull more electrons in the B-H bond towards itself than in the Al-H bonds (even though H is more electronegative than either, but the pull effect of B should be greater). So wouldn't the Al in AlH3 be more partially positive and as such be more attractive to the NMe3 and so forms a stronger bond?

These 2 seem ideas seem to contradict each other, but they both stem from electronegativity so I don't really know what's the right answer for this.

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