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Why are epoxides so reactive?

Answer 1

Have you got a molecular model set? You should have one. Construct a 3-membered ring, and then a 6-membered ring; it will be harder to make the former.

After the oxygen site is protonated, each carbon is vulnerable to nucleophilic attack, resulting in substantial ring strain in the three-membered ring.

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Answer 2

Santiago Alfonso

Epoxides are highly reactive due to the strain in their three-membered ring structure, which causes a significant angle strain and steric hindrance.

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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.