Electrophile Formula: Definition, Types and Examples

An Electrophile Formula is a chemical species that accepts an electron pair and forms bonds with nucleophiles. Electrophiles are Lewis acids because they accept electrons. This are usually positively charged, partially positively charged, or has an atom without an octet of electrons.

What is Electrophile?

Also Read: Discovery of Proton Formula

Types of Electrophile

• H+
• SO3H+
• NO+
• NO2+
• X+
• R+
• C6H5N2+

Also Check - Sodium Hydroxide Formula

Electrophilic Reagent Examples

1. Addition of Halogens

Also Check - Modern Periodic Table Formula

2. Addition of Hydrogen Halides

Also Check - Electronegativity Formula

3. Chiral Derivatives

Few Facts about Electrophile

• George A. Olah was the first to discover super-electrophiles, cationic electrophilic reagents with greatly enhanced reactivities in the presence of superacids.
• By proto-solvation, these compounds form as a doubly electron-deficient species.
• Mixing hydrofluoric acid and a mixture of acetic acid and boron trifluoride produces a superacid from BF3 and HF, which is capable of extracting hydride ions from isobutane through the formation of an intermediate [CH3CO2H3]2+.
• Molecules, ions, or atoms that lack electrons are electrophiles.
• Electrophiles participate in electrophilic substitutions and electrophilic additions. Since they accept electrons, they are also called Lewis acids.
• Electrophiles can have either a positive or negative charge.
• Carbon-carbon double bonds, which have a lot of electrons, are attacked by electrons.
• Molecular nucleophiles donate electron pairs to electrophiles and form chemical bonds.