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Why is ethanol not used in SN2 reactions?

Answer 1

Ethanol is a polar protic solvent.

#S_N2# reactions "favor" certain conditions, just like #S_N1, E_1,#and #E_2# reactions.

Favorable conditions for bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions include polar aprotic solvents. Polar protic solvents hinder #S_N2# reactions, as they can hydrogen bond to nucleophiles and make them less effective in attacking the substrate. Ethanol is a polar protic solvent (though alcohols are only weakly acidic). It is commonly seen as a solvent/nucleophile (solvolysis) in #S_N1# reactions.

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Answer 2

Isabella Acosta

Ethanol is not used in SN2 reactions because it can act as a competing nucleophile. Ethanol contains an -OH group, which can participate in the reaction instead of the desired substrate. This can lead to side reactions and lower yields of the desired product. Additionally, ethanol is a solvent that can solvate the nucleophile and the substrate, affecting the rate of the reaction.

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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.