Crash Posted June 3, 2004 Posted June 3, 2004 Can anyone explain what is and the difference between an electrophile and a nucleophile?
fafalone Posted June 3, 2004 Posted June 3, 2004 Attracts electrons vs. attracts protons of a nucleus.
Crash Posted June 3, 2004 Author Posted June 3, 2004 wtf? you mean whether the other atom in a compound attracts the electrons or the protons?
Skye Posted June 3, 2004 Posted June 3, 2004 Electrophiles are attacted to atoms in another molecule that have alot of electrons around them. Nucleophiles are attacted to atoms that have few electrons around them.
Crash Posted June 3, 2004 Author Posted June 3, 2004 In a diatomic compound does that make one of the elements a electrophile and the other a nucleophile? What causes this property is it to do with electron affinity and shielding? How do you tell which atoms a electrophile/nucleophile in a compound?
JustinM.Dragna Posted June 4, 2004 Posted June 4, 2004 A nucleophile is electron rich, and an electrophile is electron poor. If you're looking at a molecule and you want to know which part is nucleophilic, look at the dipole moment. The part that is most negative will be the nucleophile. For instance, something like ethanol will be nucleophilic at the oxygen atom, or an alkene would be most nucleophilic at the double bond. On the other hand, if you want to find the electrophilic part of an atom just look for the positive part of it. For example, ethanol is electrophic at the C attached to the oxygen atom since the oxygen atom is electron withdrawing(at least in this case).
Crash Posted June 4, 2004 Author Posted June 4, 2004 So SiF4 is surronded by a negative field so which one is the nucleophile and which one is the electrophile?
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now