SSC MTS EXAM

Detailed explanation-1: -In general, an electrophile is a chemical species that forms bonds with nucleophiles by accepting an electron pair. Electrophiles mainly interact with nucleophiles through addition and substitution reactions in organic reactions. Because electrophiles accept electrons, they are Lewis acids essentially.

Detailed explanation-2: -Lewis acids are electron acceptors, the slight asymmetry in the definition arises because accepting means you have to move electrons into a Lewis acid, i.e. H+ and AlCl3. On the other hand the carbonyl carbon is electrophilic, but when it accepts two electrons, it rejects two others. Hence, it is not a Lewis acid.

Detailed explanation-3: -According to Lewis, an acid is any substance that can accept an electron pair, and a base is any substance that can donated an electron pair to form a covalent bond. Therefore acids must be electrophiles and bases must be nucleophiles.

Detailed explanation-4: -Nucleophiles and electrophiles. The majority of organic reactions can in fact be classified as Lewis acid-base reactions. However, organic chemists usually refer to a Lewis acid as an electrophile (which is electron poor), and a Lewis base as a nucleophile (electron rich).