Home > Organic Chemistry > Comparing and Determing SN1 or SN2 and E1 or E2 reactions

How do carbocations form?

Answer 1

A carbocation can form by bond breaking between it and a more electronegative element.

In the first step of SN1 reactions, for instance, a carbocation is formed when two electrons are donated from a leaving group to form a carbocation and an anion.

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Answer 2

Ella Allen

Carbocations form through the loss of a bonding pair of electrons by a carbon atom in a molecule, resulting in a positively charged carbon ion. This process typically occurs during the breakdown of a covalent bond, leaving the carbon atom with only three bonds and an empty p orbital. The most common mechanisms leading to carbocation formation are ionization reactions or reactions involving heterolytic cleavage of covalent bonds.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.