- charged solvents/reactant/think with arrow

[onedirection]

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Do we assume that the thing above the arrow or with the arrow if it's negatively charged is the nucleophile

like CH3O-/EtOH

Is CH3O- the Nucleophile in this case because of the minus charge

If it's a + charge, would it mean that it's going going to add/protonate something by default

Just confirming

 

[ashtonjam]

Do we assume that the thing above the arrow or with the arrow if it's negatively charged is the nucleophile

like CH3O-/EtOH

Is CH3O- the Nucleophile in this case because of the minus charge

If it's a + charge, would it mean that it's going going to add/protonate something by default

Just confirming

Yeah, the negatively charged thing is always going to be more nucleophilic/basic than its protonated form. e.g. Methoxide is way more nucleophilic than methanol. NH2- > NH3 > NH4+.

A lot of protonations are done by aqueous acid like HCl, H2SO4, and H+ for acid-catalyzed reactions. Can't think of any positively charged organic things that are commonly used just for protonating things. There happen to be + charges in reaction mechanisms, though.