Which of the following is not an electrophile? How is this determined?

#NO_2^+#
#BF_3#
#CH_2=CH_2#
#H^+#

1 Answer
P dilip_k
Jul 18, 2016

"Electrophiles are positively charged or neutral species having vacant orbitals that are attracted to an electron rich centre. It participates in a chemical reaction by accepting an electron pair in order to bond to a nucleophile"

On the basis of above definition given in the net we can judge which one of the given species is not an eletrophile.

#NO_2^+ and H^+ "positively charged"# so attracted towards ngatively charged centers and hence they are charged electrophiles.

#BF_3-># A neutral molecule but the valence shell of its central atom B is not completely fulfilled.This electron deficiency makes it an electrophile.

#CH_2=CH_2# is neutral molecule but it has got #pi#-bond.So this molecule is capable of donating eletron.Hence does not act as an electrophile.

Related questions
See all questions in SN1 and SN2 Reactions
Impact of this question
32940 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License