| Electrofuge | Electrophile |
|---|---|---|
Definition | Electrofuge is a leaving group that is formed due to the heterolytic breakage of a bond wherein post the clevage, it leaves without the bond pair of electrons, and therefore electron deficient. | Electrophiles are electron-deficient species that may be neutral or charged because of heterolytic bond cleavage. Still, its primary nature is to attract electrons from other electron-rich counterparts and form a new bond. |
Examples | An example is hydrogen as electrofuge H+. The loss of Hydrogen as H+ is common in aromatic electrophilic substitution reactions, where incoming electrophile displaces another electrophile (H+) as a leaving group. For example, in the nitration reaction of the benzene ring, the incoming electrophile is a NO2+ group, and the H+ is the leaving group. | Examples are H+, CH3+, NO2+, CH3COCl, AlCl3. |
Reactions | Electrofuges are formed in elimination and substitution reactions involving electrophiles. | Electrophiles participate in addition and substitution reactions alongside nucleophiles, displacing an electrofuge. |
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