Question

Pick up the species which can act as: (a) both i.e. electrophile as well as nucleophile (b) neither electrophile or nucleophile. $H^{+}, H_{2}, H_{2}O, Cl^{+}, Cl^{-}, Cr^{3+}, CH_{4}, NO_{2}^{+}, BeCl_{2}, CH_{2}O, CH_{3}CH=CH_{2}, SnCl_{4}, CH_{3}CN$, $SiF_{4}$

Answer 1

"Electron rich molecules are called nucleophiles and electron deficient species are called as electrophiles.

a) The following species act as electrophile as well as nucleophile

$Cl^{ - }\quad -\quad Nucleophile\quad as\quad well\quad as\quad Electrophile$

$CH_{ 4 }\quad -\quad Nucleophile\quad as\quad well\quad as\quad Electrophile$

$CH_{ 2 }O\quad -\quad Nucleophile\quad as\quad well\quad as\quad Electrophile$

b)

$\quad \\ H^{ + }\quad -\quad Electrophile\\ H_{ 2 }\quad -\quad Electrophile$

$H_{ 2 }O\quad -\quad Nucleophile$

$Cl^{ + }\quad -\quad Electrophile$

$Cr^{ 3+ }\quad -\quad Electrophile$

$NO_{ 2 }^{ + }\quad -\quad Electrophile$

$BeCl_{ 2 }\quad -\quad Electrophile$

$CH_{ 3 }CH=CH_{ 2 }\quad -\quad Nucleophile$

$SnCl_{ 4 }\quad -\quad Nucleophile$

$CH_{ 3 }CN\quad -\quad Nucleophile$

$SiF_{ 4 }\quad -\quad Electrophile$"

Answer 2

Answer:

CH

3

NH

2

as a nucleophile: CH

3

NH

2

⟶CH

3

⊕

+NH

2

⊝

CH

3

NH

2

as an electrophile: CH

3

NH

2

⟶CH

3

NH

⊝

+H

⊕

The NH

2

⊝

acts as a nucleophile and H

+

acts as an electrophile.

In other compounds, Cl

−

,CN

−

and OH

−

acts as a nucleophile only and no elctrophile is present.