CHEM10006 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Walden Inversion, Sn2 Reaction, Stereocenter

• School: University of Melbourne
• Department: Chemistry
• Course: CHEM10006
• Professor: Frances Separovic

Document Summary

Cat #1 finds cat #2 on his comfy chair and wants to sit. He has two options: in the sn2, the nucleophile (cat #1) forms a bond to the substrate (comfy chair) at the same time the leaving group (cat. #2) leaves: in the sn1, the leaving group (cat #2) leaves the substrate (comfy chair), and then the nucleophile (cat #1) forms a bond. The inversion of a chiral centre in a molecule in a chemical reaction. Since a molecule can form two enantiomers around a chiral centre, the walden inversion converts the configuration of the molecule from one enantiomeric form to the other. For example, in a sn2 reaction, walden inversion occurs at a tetrahedral carbon atom. It can be visualized by imagining an umbrella turned inside-out in a gale. In the walden inversion, the back-side attack by a nucleophile in sn2 reaction gives rise to a product whose configuration is opposite to the reactant.