Give reason for the following:
a. During the electrophilic substitution reaction of haloarenes, para substituted derivative is the major product.
b. The product formed during S N 1 reaction is a racemic mixture.
Answer:
a. At the ortho position, higher steric hindrance is there, hence para isomer is usually predominate and is obtained in the major amount.
b. During the SN 1 mechanism, intermediate carbocation formed is sp 2 hybridized and planar in nature. This allows the attack of nucleophile from either side of the plane resulting in a racemic mixture.
