ORGANIC CHEMISTRY Chapter 3 Protic solvent o a protic solvent is one that has a hydrogen atom attached to a strongly electronegative element such as oxygen or nitrogen o Molecules of a protic solvent therefore can form hydrogen bonds to the unshared electron pairs of oxygen(or nitrogen) atoms of an acid and its conjugate base, but they may not stabilIze both equal Department of Chemistry, Xiamen UniversityORGANIC CHEMISTRY Department of Chemistry, Xiamen University Chapter 3 Protic solvent A protic solvent is one that has a hydrogen atom attached to a strongly electronegative element such as oxygen or nitrogen. Molecules of a protic solvent, therefore, can form hydrogen bonds to the unshared electron pairs of oxygen (or nitrogen) atoms of an acid and its conjugate base, but they may not stabilize both equally