Nucleophilic Substitutions: SN Reactions

This lecture covers the SN1 and SN2 mechanisms of nucleophilic substitutions, where the leaving group departure precedes the nucleophile attack in SN1, leading to a racemic mixture in chiral centers, and the simultaneous attack of the nucleophile in SN2, resulting in stereochemical inversion. It also discusses the analogy between SN reactions and acid-base reactions, leaving group quality estimation, stabilization of carbocation intermediates, nucleophilicity determination, and examples of SN2 reactions like the Williamson synthesis of ethers and the Gabriel synthesis of primary amines.