Nucleophiles and elctrophiles

Nucleophiles and elctrophiles

Nucleophiles are reagents that has high affinity for electro positive centers. They possess an atom has an unshared pair of electrons, and hence it is in search for an electro positive centre where it can have an opportunity to share its elections to form a covalent bond, and gets stabilised. They are usually negatively charged ions or electron rich neutral molecules (contains one or more lone pair of electrons). All Lewis bases act as nucleophiles.

Electrophiles are reagents that are attracted towards negative charge or electron rich center. They are either positively charged ions or electron deficient neutral molecules. All Lewis acids act as electrophiles. Neutral molecules like SnCl4 can also act as an electrophile, as it has vacant d-orbitals which can accommodate the electrons from others.