What are electrophiles and nucleophiles give examples?
Answers
Electrophiles are greedy little molecules (or atoms). They are known to do anything for an electron pair (i.e. two electrons). They will happily grab and take any electron pairs from neighboring molecules or atoms. Okay, so this may be a gross exaggeration of what an electrophile does, but it's a great way to think about these molecules and how they behave in chemical reactions.
Electrophiles are atoms or molecules known to be electron deficient and that carry a partial (or fully) positive charge and will seek an electron pair to form a covalent bond. These species will seek an electron pair from organic molecules. The sites on these organic molecules are called 'electron rich.'
A great way to remember the definition of an electrophile is to think of them as 'electron loving.' From the definition of an electrophile, we can see that its primary reason for being an electron lover is due to the desire to form a covalent bond with another molecule. Let's see how this relates to their interaction with other molecules.
Electrophiles- Nucleophile Relationship
Imagine the interior of a container filled with molecules. Some of these molecules have a positive charge, and some have a negative charge. All of them are hanging out, interacting with one another (in a solution). There are molecules that have no problem donating their electron pair to those they mingle with and molecules that will happily accept this electron pair. These molecules willing to donate their electron pairs (to form a covalent bond) are called nucleophiles.
At some point, a love spark seems to occur between two molecules in particular, E and N. All of a sudden, an organic reaction takes place. Molecule E (electrophile) happily accepts an electron pair from molecule N (nucleophile), resulting in the formation of a covalent bond and creation of a new molecule.
The purpose of this imaginative story is to highlight a few items: (1) electrophiles interact with nucleophiles to form a covalent bond and (2) this attraction is based on the fact that electrophiles are electron deficient and seek molecules capable of addressing this deficiency. Given our understanding of the relationship between an electrophile and nucleophile, let's look at a particular organic reaction called electrophilic addition.
electrophiles are electron loving species . They have electron deficiency and have positive change .
Eg - CH3+
Nucleophiles are nuclear loving species. They have excess of electrons and are attracted to electrophiles
Eg - OH-