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nucleophilic substitution of secondary haloalkane

i do A level OCR A chem

i know nucleophilic substitution of primary haloalkanes have one step, and tertiary haloalkanes have two steps.

How many steps of nucleophilic substitution would secondary haloalkanes have? I don't think we need to know it since its not on the spec but Im just asking out of curiosity and clarification.
Well, the main issue is that secondary haloalkanes aren't so easy - so often it's best to plan not to use them in your synthetic planning.

Both forming a carbocation first (known as SN1) is slow as the carbocation isn't very stable and just direct attack of a nucleophile (known as SN2) is slow as the carbon centre is a bit hindered.

The main issue is that because both of these substitution reactions are unfavourable to some extent, you probably get a bit of both happening at all times. But also, elimination reactions to form alkene (by E1 or E2 reactions) also become pretty likely as competing reactions for what you want.
Original post by sumayaaa
i do A level OCR A chem

i know nucleophilic substitution of primary haloalkanes have one step, and tertiary haloalkanes have two steps.

How many steps of nucleophilic substitution would secondary haloalkanes have? I don't think we need to know it since its not on the spec but Im just asking out of curiosity and clarification.

Check this out:
Reply 3
thanks for all the help!
Reply 4
Original post by sumayaaa
i do A level OCR A chem

I don't think we need to know it since its not on the spec

I will confirm: you DO NOT need to know about SN1 reactions, or elimination from haloalkanes.
Reply 5
Original post by Pigster
I will confirm: you DO NOT need to know about SN1 reactions, or elimination from haloalkanes.

thank you thank you!

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