Haloalkanes - When Do Nucleophilic Substitution and beta-Elimination Compete?

3 important questions on Haloalkanes - When Do Nucleophilic Substitution and beta-Elimination Compete?

On what factor is the ratio of products formed, when β-elimination and nucleophilic substitution compete, dependent?

The ration of products formed is mostly dependent on the relative rates of reaction.

Under what conditions is a mixture of elimination and substituted products formed?

In a polar protic solvent, with secondary and tertiary haloalkanes both E1 and SN1 reactions take place. The first step in both E1 and SN1 are the same and rate determining.

How can be predicted whether or not a SN2 reaction or an E2 reaction will take place?

1. Branching at the α-carbon and β-carbon significantly retard SN2 reactions and increase the rate of E2 reactions.
2. The greater the nucleophilicity of the attacking reagent the greater the SN2/E2 ratio. The greater the basicity of the attacking reagent the greater the E2/SN2 ratio.

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