Local polarity in CO2-expanded acetonitrile: a nucleophilic substitution reaction and solvatochromic probes

Jackson W Ford1, Malina E Janakat, Jie Lu

  • 1School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0100, USA.

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Historical perspective
In 1896, the German chemist Paul Walden discovered that he could interconvert pure enantiomeric (+) and (-) malic acids through a series of reactions. This conversion suggested the involvement of optical inversion during the substitution reaction. Further, in 1930, Sir Christopher Ingold described for the first time two different forms of nucleophilic substitution reactions, which are known as SN1 (nucleophilic substitution unimolecular) and SN2 (nucleophilic substitution...
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