CHEM 233 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Nucleophilic Substitution, Polyatomic Ion, Sn2 Reaction
Document Summary
Important principles re. nucleophilic substitution reactions: many alkyl halides and related compounds undergo nucleophilic substitution according to the general scheme below: The following symbols are used in the diagram above: (r1r2r3)c x is called the substrate of the reaction is actually inclined to share its electron pair(s) with an appropriate acceptor. Such an agent is called a nucleophile to distinguish it from lewis bases that are not willing to share their electron pairs (non-nucleophilic lewis bases) Nu:( ) is a lewis base (= a species that possesses one or more pairs of unshared electrons) that: in many cases, the above substrates (r1r2r3)c x undergo nucleophilic substitution by the sn2 mechanism (chem 123): X is a halide ion (chloride, bromide iodine) or a polyatomic anion that can also be displaced by the incoming nu:( ). X is described as the leaving group in this reaction.
