protophilicadj.

1930 N. F. Hall in Jrnl. Chem. Educ. 7 792 Next there is the basic strength, or protophilic tendency of the solvent.

1953 L. F. Audrieth & J. Kleinberg Non-aqueous Solvents ii. 33 Amphiprotic solvents occupy a position intermediate between those of marked protophylic character, such as ammonia and the amines, and those of distinct protophobic character, such as acetic and hydrogen fluoride.

1969 R. G. Bates in J. F. Coetzee & C. D. Ritchie Solute-solvent Interactions ii. 51 The four classes of solvents, ‘amphiprotic’, ‘protogenic’, ‘protophilic’, and ‘aprotic’, are not clearly restrictive and the proper classification of many solvents is in doubt.

1973 E. J. King in A. K. Covington & T. Dickinson Physical Chem. Org. Solvent Syst. iii. 334 Ethanolamine and dimethyl sulphoxide are basic or protophilic solvents.

1993 Jrnl. Pharmacol. & Exper. Therapeutics 267 58 A conformationally restricted tryptamine derivative with a carboxamide serving as a protophilic group to mimic the hydroxyl in serotonin.

1930 N. F. Hall in Jrnl. Chem. Educ. 7 787 The terms protophilia and hydrophilia have been proposed to describe the tendency of a molecule to unite with proton, and it would seem that some such word as protophile, forbidding as it is, would arouse less prejudice than the term base used in such a broad and subversive manner.

1936 Chem. Rev. 19 90 Where one molecule is more of a donor or reductant than another, it may also be expected to be a stronger protophile or base.