Question
SOCl2 can act as a weak Lewis acid as well as a weak Lewis base. Explain.
Solution
The basic characters of SOCl2, is due to the presence of a lone-pair of electrons on S atom like ammonia.
It has a pyramidal structure involving sp3 hybridisation with a lone-pair of electrons as:
So, Lewis basic character is due to the presence of a lone-pair. In addition SOCl2 has also empty d-orbitals which can be used to accept electron pairs and hence it behaves as a Lewis acid.
