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In chemistry, an electrophile (literally electron-lover) is a reagent attracted to electrons that participates in a chemical reaction by accepting an electron pair in order to bond to a nucleophile. Because electrophiles accept electrons, they are Lewis acids (see acid-base reaction theories). Most electrophiles are positively charged, have an atom which carries a partial positive charge, or have an atom which does not have an octet of electrons. The electrophiles attack the most electron-populated part of a nucleophile. The electrophiles frequently seen in the organic syntheses are cations such as H+ and NO+, polarized neutral molecules such as HCl, alkyl halides, acyl halides, and carbonyl compounds, polarizable neutral molecules such as Cl2 and Br2, oxidizing agents such as organic peracids, chemical species that do not satisfy the octet rule such as carbenes and radicals, and some of lewis acids such as BH3 and DIBAL. These occur between alkenes and electrophiles, often halogens as in halogen addition reactions. Common reactions include use of bromine water to titrate against a sample to deduce the number of double bonds present. For example, ethylene + bromine ? 1,2-dibromoethane This takes the form of 3 main steps shown below[1];
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