ELECTRONEGATIVITY AND LEWIS ACID STRENGTH

For main group elements in their highest oxidation state we show that a scale of Lewis acid strength derived from observed structures correlates with a scale of electronegativity derived from electron energies in the free atom. If the bonding geometry is also explicitly taken into account the same correlation holds for the same atoms in their next lower oxidation state. Although the two scales are conceptually quite distinct they correlate because both have a similar dependence on the screened nuclear charge and the ionic radius. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.