Lewis Acidity
Covalently saturated silicon complexes like SiBr4, along with tetrahalides of germanium (Ge) and tin (Sn), are Lewis acids. Although silicon tetrahalides obey the octet rule, they add Lewis basic ligands to give adducts with the formula SiBr4L and SiBr4L2 (where L is a Lewis base). The Lewis acidic properties of the tetrahalides tend to increase as follows: SiI4 < SiBr4 < SiCl4 < SiF4. This trend is attributed to the relative electronegativities of the halogens.
The strength of the Si-X bonds decrease in the order: Si-F > Si-Cl > Si-Br > Si-I.
Read more about this topic: Silicon Tetrabromide
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