Crash Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 Can anyone explain what is and the difference between an electrophile and a nucleophile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fafalone Posted June 3, 2004 Share Posted June 3, 2004 Attracts electrons vs. attracts protons of a nucleus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted June 3, 2004 Author Share Posted June 3, 2004 wtf? you mean whether the other atom in a compound attracts the electrons or the protons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skye Posted June 3, 2004 Share 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted June 3, 2004 Author Share 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinM.Dragna Posted June 4, 2004 Share 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). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted June 4, 2004 Author Share Posted June 4, 2004 So SiF4 is surronded by a negative field so which one is the nucleophile and which one is the electrophile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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