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How do you increase the rate of an SN1 reaction?

Answer 1

Increase the concentration of the alkyl halide.

the rate determining step of #SN_1# is a unimolecular equation (mechanism of two steps) which is the step of forming the carbocation:

#R-X->R^(+)+X^(-)#

and therefore, the rate is giving by: #Rate=k[R-X]#.

To increase the rate of the reaction we can increase the concentration of the alkyl halide.

Organic Chemistry | Predicting the Mechanism as SN1 or SN2.

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Answer 2

Maya Allen

To increase the rate of an SN1 reaction, you can:

Increase the concentration of the substrate.
Use a more polar solvent.
Use a better leaving group.
Increase the temperature.
Choose a more stable carbocation intermediate.
Use a catalyst to facilitate the reaction.
Optimize the solvation of the nucleophile.

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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.