Unimolecular Solvolysis essays

Unimolecular Solvolysis essays The speed that a reaction takes place is important in chemistry because it provides necessary information about reactant mechanism or the path over which reactants travel on their way to becoming products. The rate data interpretation depends on knowledge of known factors that influence rate. These factors are: The Structure of the Compound or Compounds entering the reaction. The Concentrations of the Reacting Species The Type of Solvent that the Reaction is being carried out in. Unimolecular Solvolysis or also known as SN1, is a process in organic chemistry that can show the effects of these factors. In order to understand unimolecular solvolysis, one must understand nucleophilic substitutions. Nucleophilic substitutions usually have the form shown below: Nucleophiles want to react with a carbon because opposites attract. A nucleophile is a species that is attracted to positive charges, and oftentimes it may even have a full negative charge. The leaving group draws electrons from the carbon it is attached to, it gives the carbon a partially positive charge or +, making it a candidate for nucleophilic substitution. An SN1 reaction involves both a substrate, like tert-butyl chloride and a nucleophile. Tert-butyl chloride, while being a terrible substrate for an SN2 reaction reacts well in the SN1 reaction. With the SN1 reaction, tert-butyl chloride reacts quickly with a nucleophile to form the substitution product. In the SN1 reaction, the concentration of the substrate effects the reaction rate, but changing the concentration of the nucleophile has no effect on the rate. The SN1 reaction follows the following rate equation: Rate = kr[substrate]. Because the nucleophile is not involved in the rate determining step, the concentration or the nucleophilicity of the nucleophile has no effect on the reaction rate. Thus, poor nucleophiles such as ...