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Leah here from Leah4Sci.com where you can find hundreds of organic chemistry tutorial
videos as well as information regarding my online tutoring services. In this video series,
I will take you through everything you need to analyze SN1, SN2, E1, and E2 reactions.
This may very well be the most important substitution and elimination video in the dozen or so videos
in this series. Why? Because substitution and elimination are often taught in a vacuum.
You'll learn the rate, reactions, mechanism, perhaps you even memorize reagents and steps,
and this works well for a single reaction. And suddenly you'll find yourself faced with
a molecule and a solvent and now what? Is it the reaction substitution or elimination?
Is it one step or is there a carbocation intermediate?
The proper way to learn the difference is by analysis of facts and understanding of
concepts. When faced with an equation, you will have to ask yourself the following questions.
How stable is the carbon holding the leaving group? Can it be attacked? And can it form
a stable carbocation? Is the reactant a nucleophile or base and is it strong or weak? Is the reaction
taking place in a polar protic solvent, polar aprotic solvent, or non-polar solvent? Do
we have a good or bad leaving group? What's the charge and can it leave by itself or does
it require a bribe?
I will address each of these concepts in their own video followed by tutorials on the SN1,
SN2, E1, E2 reactions and complete the series with a comparison video showing you how to
combine all the concepts to choose between the different reactions based on what you're
given.
Click here for the entire series or visit my website Leah4Sci.com/substitution-elimination.