Does anyone know a mnemonic? Or at least have a good way of explaining it so that it seems intuitive? The only ones I ever remember are the halogens since they are opposite of what one would expect. Thanks!
The rule fails notably for NH3+ derivatives. In NH2, nitrogen has a lone pair to donate, but in NH3+, the positive nitrogen has a strong tendency to pull electrons from the benzene ring.
It's actually simple.
Activating are Electron Donating groups. These groups have a lone pair atom bonded to the ring. i.e. NH2, OCH3 etc.
Deactivating have an atom with a double bond that is bonded to the ring i.e. C=O, N=O, S=O. groups like NO2, SO3 all have those double bonded groups.
Hope that makes it simpler!
Are EAS listed on the aamc mcat outline? I thought we didn't need to know activating/donating groups for benzenes for the new mcat..Way late to the game here... but isn't -NH2 also problematic because it forms complexes with Lewis Acid Catalysts thereby deactivating the ring? Struggling with a post-lab write up because of this.