someone knows this...!

[BoneMental]

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I know that polar protic solvents are good for Sn1. I know they stabilize the leaving group by H-bonding with it.

However, what if your leaving group is incapable of H-bonding? Like, opposed to your leaving group being like, water, what if it was Bromine? Bromine can't hydrogen bond...what's the point of the polar protic solvent in that case?

 

[flodhi1]

I know that polar protic solvents are good for Sn1. I know they stabilize the leaving group by H-bonding with it.

However, what if your leaving group is incapable of H-bonding? Like, opposed to your leaving group being like, water, what if it was Bromine? Bromine can't hydrogen bond...what's the point of the polar protic solvent in that case?

The Polar protic solvent is there to stabilize the cation intermediate that is formed. So regardless of what the leaving group is the purpose is for intermediate stability.

 

[BoneMental]

The Polar protic solvent is there to stabilize the cation intermediate that is formed. So regardless of what the leaving group is the purpose is for intermediate stability.

I thought that was like...a commonly-thought-but-wrong notion. But it makes sense to me.

 

[flodhi1]

I thought that was like...a commonly-thought-but-wrong notion. But it makes sense to me.

Well highly polar solvents are better at surrounding and isolating ions than less polar solvents. However like I stated the solvation stabilizes the intermediate state. Anyone that tells you otherwise is misleading you.