Title: protophilic
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - protophilic
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.P04916
Status: current

Definition
Capable of acting as proton acceptor, strongly or weakly basic (as a Brønsted base). Also called HBA (hydrogen bond acceptor) solvent.

Related Terms
- Brønsted base: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/B00745
- hydrogen bond: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/H02899
- protogenic solvent: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04904
- proton: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04906

Source
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1077. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1153 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466051077)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04916/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04916/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04916/xml

Citation: Citation: 'protophilic' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.P04916
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-07-25T21:49:43+00:00