Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Spin Saturation Transfer Difference NMR (SSTD NMR): A New Tool to Obtain Kinetic Parameters of Chemical Exchange Processes
11:44

Spin Saturation Transfer Difference NMR (SSTD NMR): A New Tool to Obtain Kinetic Parameters of Chemical Exchange Processes

Published on: November 12, 2016

A computational study of the effect of bending on secondary kinetic isotope effects in SN2 transition states

Faraj Hasanayn1, Andrew Streitwieser, Rasha Al-Rifai

  • 1Department of Chemistry, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. fh19@aub.edu.lb

Journal of the American Chemical Society
|February 17, 2005
PubMed

More Related Videos

All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics11:33

All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics

Published on: January 19, 2018

Isotopic Effect in Double Proton Transfer Process of Porphycene Investigated by Enhanced QM/MM Method05:51

Isotopic Effect in Double Proton Transfer Process of Porphycene Investigated by Enhanced QM/MM Method

Published on: July 19, 2019

Related Concept Videos

SN2 Reaction: Kinetics02:14

SN2 Reaction: Kinetics

Kinetic Studies and Significance
In a chemical reaction, a relationship exists between the concentration of reactants and the rate at which the reaction proceeds. The study to measure this relationship is known as the kinetics of a chemical reaction. Kinetic studies are used to deduce the rate law of a chemical reaction, which provides information about the species involved during the transition state of the rate-determining step. Thus, kinetic studies help to derive the mechanism of a reaction.
SN2 Reaction: Mechanism02:27

SN2 Reaction: Mechanism

The kinetic studies of SN2 reactions suggest an essential feature of its mechanism: it is a single-step process without intermediates. Here, both the nucleophile and the substrate participate in the rate-determining step.
The presence of the more electronegative halogen in the substrate creates a polarized carbon-halide bond. The halide pulls the electron cloud generating an electrophilic center at the carbon atom. Thus, the carbon atom carries a partial positive charge while the halide has a...
SN2 Reaction: Transition State02:26

SN2 Reaction: Transition State

An SN2 reaction of an alkyl halide is a single-step process in which bond formation between the nucleophile and the substrate and bond breaking between the substrate and the halide occurs simultaneously through a transition state without forming an intermediate.
When the nucleophile approaches the electrophilic carbon with its lone pairs, the halide acts as a leaving group and moves away with the electron-pair bonded to the carbon. Dotted partial bonds represent the bonds being formed or broken...
SN2 Reaction: Stereochemistry02:23

SN2 Reaction: Stereochemistry

In an SN2 reaction, the nucleophilic attack on the substrate and departure of the leaving group occurs simultaneously through a transition state. As the nucleophile approaches the substrate from the back-side, the configuration of the substrate carbon changes from tetrahedral to trigonal bipyramidal and then back to tetrahedral, leading to an inversion in the configuration of the product.
If the substrate is an achiral molecule at the α-carbon, the inversion of configuration is not observed.
Spin–Spin Coupling Constant: Overview01:08

Spin–Spin Coupling Constant: Overview

In bromoethane, the three methyl protons are coupled to the two methylene protons that are three bonds away. In accordance with the n+1 rule, the signal from the methyl protons is split into three peaks with 1:2:1 relative intensities. The methylene protons appear as a quartet, with the relative intensities of 1:3:3:1.
Qualitatively, any spin plus-half nucleus polarizes the spins of its electrons to the minus-half state. Consequently, the paired electron in the hydrogen–carbon bond must have a...
Nuclear Overhauser Enhancement (NOE)01:06

Nuclear Overhauser Enhancement (NOE)

Irradiation of a spin-active nucleus causes an increase or decrease in the signal intensity of neighboring nuclei that are not necessarily chemically bonded or involved in J-coupling. This phenomenon, called the nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE), results from through-space interactions between the nuclear spins. The NOE effect decreases with increasing internuclear distance and is generally not observed beyond 4 angstroms. In NOE, dipole-dipole interactions between neighboring spin-active...