Because a Lewis acid accepts a pair of electrons, chemists call
it an electrophile, from the Greek meaning "lover of electrons." They
call the base a nucleophile, or "lover of nuclei," because it donates
the electrons to a nucleus with an empty orbital. In a chemical
reaction, a nucleophile seeks a nucleus, or a positive charge, and an
electrophile seeks electrons, or a negative charge. Fundamental to
organic chemistry is the fact that nearly all the reactions that you will
study are reactions of an acid with a base or, more commonly, of an
electrophile with a nucleophile.