In boron trihalides (BX3), the central boron atom has an empty 2p orbital and the halogen atoms have lone pairs in their p orbitals. The lone pair of electrons from the halogen can be donated to the empty 2p orbital of boron, forming a pπ−pπ back bond. This reduces the electron deficiency of boron, decreasing its Lewis acid character. The effectiveness of back bonding is maximum in BF3 because both boron and fluorine have 2p orbitals of similar size, leading to strong orbital overlap. As the size of the halogen atom increases from F to Br (F:2p, Cl:3p, Br:4p), the size mismatch between the overlapping orbitals increases, making back bonding progressively weaker. Consequently, the electron deficiency of boron remains higher for larger halogens, increasing their Lewis acid strength. Thus, the Lewis acid strength increases in the order BF3<BCl3<BBr3. Therefore, the decreasing sequence is BBr3>BCl3>BF3.