Assertion: boric acid's effect | /r/HasProperty | mitigated by oxygen lone pairs
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text: If one considers the structure of boric acid, it should be readily apparent that the boron atom could be quite electrophilic and hence act as a Lewis acid: it possesses a formally vacant $p$-orbital; it is bound to highly electronegative oxygen atoms, which withdraw electron density and create a partial positive $(\delta^+)$ charge on it (though this effect may be mitigated by the oxygen lone pairs, which can donate electron density into the aforementioned $p$-orbital); and finally, it has a planar geometry that makes it quite sterically accessible to approaching nucleophiles.