ELECTROPHILIC SUBSTITUTION SUBSTITUTION AT SATURATED CARBON

Historically, classes of compounds served as the central organizing theme of organic chemistry. The first task of organizing theme of organic chemistry. The first task of structural theory in terms of which constitutions and reactions of organic compounds could be described. Chemical reactions remained largely unclassified until the late 1930's, and only relatively recently have large numbers of organic chemists derived inspiration for research and teaching based on correlations and analogies of reaction mechanisms. Organic transformations naturally fall into two large classes: • Polar reactions, which involve charged or highly polarized intermediates or transition states. • Nonpolar reactions, whose intermediates or transition states involve little generation of charge. The terms nucleophilic (nucleus loving) and electro-philic (electron loving) have been applied to reagents in polar reactions. A nucleophile exhibits an affinity for a carbon nucleus, and an electrophile for the electrons of a carbon atom in a reactive organic compound. Perhaps ...