Lana, you'd still be more likely to do SN2 with strong, larger (period 3 and below) nucleophiles like sulfur for example (as in NaSH or NaSCH3). The strong period 2 nucleophiles being smaller form stronger ion-dipole interactions with polar protic solvents which significantly reduces their nucleophilicity making SN2 less likely. Many of these are also strong bases (like NaOH, NaOCH3, etc.) in which case E2 becomes the likely reaction. Hope this helps!
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Glad to hear it - hope you did well on your exam.
This is amazing, Sir! I wished I had these videos when I was doing my Org Chem class 5 years ago. Anyways, I'm here again studying this for the MCAT.
Glad you're finding these helpful! Best wishes on the MCAT!
Wonderful presentation! I find the table helps a lot!
Excellent!
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Thanks for saying so, Aaron Daurelle - glad you found us!
Hi! Thank you for this great video! I was just curious: In what cases are we more likely to have an SN2 reaction in a polar protic solvent?
Lana, you'd still be more likely to do SN2 with strong, larger (period 3 and below) nucleophiles like sulfur for example (as in NaSH or NaSCH3).
The strong period 2 nucleophiles being smaller form stronger ion-dipole interactions with polar protic solvents which significantly reduces their nucleophilicity making SN2 less likely. Many of these are also strong bases (like NaOH, NaOCH3, etc.) in which case E2 becomes the likely reaction.
Hope this helps!
super helpful
Thank you.