[PaulSzczesniak]

I have a terrible teacher who lectures strictly from powerpoint slides derived from the required text. Her methods are 2-dimensional and far too Neanderthal for an intro (O. Chem 1) organic chemistry class. I have done research and I am having extracting the "right" and "wrong" information I need to grasp (although I understand it's all relevant). With that being said, I'm gonna shotgun it. She stressed the fact that Lewis acids and bases are used far more than Bronsted-Lowry. Is this true? Are these two types just different approaches to the same reaction? My main question is: who is willing to take a few minutes out of their day to possibly explain the rationale/concepts behind these reactions. I appreciate your help VERY much and your time. Doing whatever I possibly can to get an A.

[Dan]

Are these two types just different approaches to the same reaction?

Not necessarily. Lewis acid-base theory covers all Bronsted-Lowry acid-base reactions, but the reverse is not true.

Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-base_reaction_theories

[PaulSzczesniak]

Not necessarily. Lewis acid-base theory covers all Bronsted-Lowry acid-base reactions, but the reverse is not true.

Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-base_reaction_theories
[/quote]

Much appreciated, you'd be surprised how much that one sentence makes things a little more clear. So with that being said, (in accordance with what my teacher stated) it would be more beneficial to fully grasp the concept of Lewis acid-base as opposed to Bronsted considering it covers all reactions? 

[spirochete]

I know at the very least Khan academy has some great lectures on acid base chemistry for sophmore organic chem. I would highly recommend watching them all in order. Perhaps even refresh yourself with some of the acid base stuff from gen chem, but try to focus on the qualitative stuff since that's mostly what's covered in organic.

Understanding qualitative acid base chemistry is absolutely crucial for understanding organic chemistry. The concept comes up over and over throughout both semesters of the course.

[TwistedConf]

She stressed the fact that Lewis acids and bases are used far more than Bronsted-Lowry. Is this true?

I think the average beginning organic chem student will actually be dealing much more with bronsted acid-base reactions that any other type. This is the stuff of deprotonations, pKa value applications, acid-catalyzed reactions, base-catalyzed reactions, etc... 

However, as mentioned above, the Bronsted reactions are really kind of a specific type of Lewis reaction where the acid is "H+". though they're often treated as separate things.