Reaction schemes visualized in network form: the syntheses of strychnine as an example

John R Proudfoot1

  • 1Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877, United States. john.proudfoot@boehringer-ingelheim.com

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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.
SN1 Reaction: Stereochemistry02:15

SN1 Reaction: Stereochemistry

This lesson provides an in-depth discussion of the stereochemical outcomes in an SN1 reaction.
In the first step of an SN1 reaction, the bond between the electrophilic carbon and the leaving group ionizes to generate the carbocation intermediate. The second step of the mechanism is the nucleophilic attack.
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Rate-Determining Steps

Relating Reaction Mechanisms
In a multistep reaction mechanism, one of the elementary steps progresses significantly slower than the others. This slowest step is called the rate-limiting step (or rate-determining step). A reaction cannot proceed faster than its slowest step, and hence, the rate-determining step limits the overall reaction rate.
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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.
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Introduction
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