Question

Which one of the following statements is not correct for an electrophile?

• A. Electron deficient species are electrophiles.
• B. Electrophiles are Lewis acids.
• C. All positively charged species are electrophiles.
• D. $AlC{l}_3$ and $S{O}_3$ are electrophiles.

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

All positively charged species are electrophiles.

Electrophile is a reagent attracted to electrons. It participates in a chemical reaction by accepting an electron pair in order to bond to a nucleophile. Because electrophiles accept electrons, they are Lewis acids. Most electrophiles are positively charged, or have an atom that does not have an octet of electrons.

All the positively charged species do not always act as electrophiles. Only those positively charged species which can accept a pair of electron can act as electrophiles. Thus ${N{H}_4}^{+}$ , $N{a}^{+}$, $C{a}^{2+}$ cannot act as electrophiles since all of these already have an octet of electron in their respective valence shells.
Option C is correct.