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A hydroxide ion acting as a nucleophile in an S N 2 reaction, converting a haloalkane into an alcohol. In chemistry, a nucleophile is a chemical species that forms bonds by donating an electron pair. All molecules and ions with a free pair of electrons or at least one pi bond can act as nucleophiles. Because nucleophiles donate electrons, they ...
In chemistry, a nucleophilic substitution (S N) is a class of chemical reactions in which an electron-rich chemical species (known as a nucleophile) replaces a functional group within another electron-deficient molecule (known as the electrophile). The molecule that contains the electrophile and the leaving functional group is called the substrate.
Many reactions studied are solvolysis reactions where a solvent molecule (often an alcohol) is the nucleophile. While still a second order reaction mechanistically, the reaction is kinetically first order as the concentration of the nucleophile–the solvent molecule, is effectively constant during the reaction.
When the solvent is also a nucleophile such as dioxane two successive S N 2 reactions take place and the stereochemistry is again retention. With standard S N 1 reaction conditions the reaction outcome is retention via a competing S N i mechanism and not racemization and with pyridine added the result is again inversion. [5] [3]
In such reactions, the nucleophile is usually electrically neutral or negatively charged, whereas the substrate is typically neutral or positively charged. An example of nucleophilic substitution is the hydrolysis of an alkyl bromide, R−Br, under basic conditions, where the attacking nucleophile is the base OH − and the leaving group is Br −:
the simple first-order rate law described in introductory textbooks. Under these conditions, the concentration of the nucleophile does not affect the rate of the reaction, and changing the nucleophile (e.g. from H 2 O to MeOH) does not affect the reaction rate, though the product is, of course, different. In this regime, the first step ...
Organolithium reagents can serve as nucleophiles and carry out S N 2 type reactions with alkyl or allylic halides. [46] Although they are considered more reactive than Grignard reagents in alkylation, their use is still limited due to competing side reactions such as radical reactions or metal – halogen exchange.
The reaction mechanism of the Mitsunobu reaction is fairly complex. The identity of intermediates and the roles they play has been the subject of debate. Initially, the triphenyl phosphine (2) makes a nucleophilic attack upon diethyl azodicarboxylate (1) producing a betaine intermediate 3, which deprotonates the carboxylic acid (4) to form the ion pair 5.