A Quantitative Scale of Oxophilicity and Thiophilicity

Oxophilicity and thiophilicity are widely used concepts with no quantitative definition. In this paper, a simple, generic scale is developed that solves issues with reference states and system dependencies and captures empirically known tendencies toward oxygen. This enables a detailed analysis of the fundamental causes of oxophilicity. Notably, the notion that oxophilicity relates to Lewis acid hardness is invalid. Rather, oxophilicity correlates only modestly and inversely with absolute hardness and more strongly with electronegativity and effective nuclear charge. Since oxygen is highly electronegative, ionic bonding is stronger to metals of low electronegativity. Left-side d-block elements with low…