solvolysis
Sign in to saveIn chemistry, solvolysis is a type of nucleophilic substitution (S1/S2) or elimination where the nucleophile is a solvent molecule. Characteristic of S1 reactions, solvolysis of a chiral reactant affords the racemate. Sometimes however, the stereochemical course is complicated by intimate ion pairs, whereby the leaving anion remains close to the carbocation, effectively shielding it from an attack by the nucleophile. Particularly fast reactions can occur by neighbour group participation, with nonclassical ions as intermediates or transition states.
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Article
6 sectionsContents
- Examples
- Hydrolysis
- Alcoholysis
- Ammonolysis
- See also
- References
In chemistry, solvolysis is a type of nucleophilic substitution (S1/S2) or elimination where the nucleophile is a solvent molecule. Characteristic of S1 reactions, solvolysis of a chiral reactant affords the racemate. Sometimes however, the stereochemical course is complicated by intimate ion pairs, whereby the leaving anion remains close to the carbocation, effectively shielding it from an attack by the nucleophile. Particularly fast reactions can occur by neighbour group participation, with nonclassical ions as intermediates or transition states.
==Examples== For certain nucleophiles, solvolysis reactions are classified. Solvolysis involving water is called hydrolysis. Related terms are alcoholysis (alcohols) and specifically methanolysis (methanol), acetolysis, ammonolysis (ammonia), and aminolysis (alkyl amines). Glycolysis is however an older term for the multistep conversion of glucose to pyruvate.