what are nucleophiles ? give its type and example
Answers
Nucleophiles are basically electron rich species which have the ability to donate electron pairs, as discussed earlier. Because of this electron pair donating tendency, all nucleophiles are Lewis Bases.
The word ‘nucleophile’ can be split into two parts, namely nucleus and philos. Philos is the Greek word for ‘love’. Therefore, nucleophiles can be thought of as Nucleus Loving species. These nucleophiles may have either a negative, or a neutral charge.
Some terminologies regarding nucleophiles are discussed below.
The nucleophilic nature of a species describes the affinity of the species to the positively charged nucleus.
Answer:
Nucleophile is a word used to refer to substances that tend to donate electron pairs to electrophiles in order to form chemical bonds with them. Any ion or molecule having an electron pair which is free or a pi bond containing two electrons have the ability to behave like nucleophiles.
Nucleophiles are basically electron rich species which have the ability to donate electron pairs, as discussed earlier. Because of this electron pair donating tendency, all nucleophiles are Lewis Bases.
The word ‘nucleophile’ can be split into two parts, namely nucleus and philos. Philos is the Greek word for ‘love’. Therefore, nucleophiles can be thought of as Nucleus Loving species. These nucleophiles may have either a negative, or a neutral charge.
Types
- Halogens – the diatomic form of a halogen does not exhibit nucleophilic qualities. However, the anionic form of these halogens are great nucleophiles. An example of this observation is: diatomic iodine (I2) does not act as nucleophile whereas I– is the strongest nucleophile in a polar, protic solvent.
- Carbon – carbon acts as a nucleophile in many organometallic reagents and also in enols. Some examples of compounds wherein carbon acts as a nucleophile include Grignard Reagents, Organolithium Reagents, and n-butyllithium.
- Oxygen – The hydroxide ion is a great example of a nucleophile wherein the electron pair is donated by the oxygen atom. Other examples include alcohols and hydrogen peroxide. It is important to note that no nucleophilic attacks occur during the intermolecular hydrogen bonding that takes place in many compounds containing oxygen and hydrogen.
- Sulphur – due to the large size, the relative ease in its polarization, and the easily accessible lone electron pairs, sulphur has many nucleophilic qualities. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a great example of a nucleophile containing sulphur.
- Nitrogen – Nitrogen is known to form many nucleophiles such as amines, azides, ammonia, and nitrides. Even amides are known to exhibit nucleophilic qualities.
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