need to figure out what influences rxn rate of alkene addition, other than obvious factors such as degree of carbocation and resonance/induction stabilization

pls halp

I understood like 3 words you wrote

This is a place for meatheads

This post was edited by Miniflight on Oct 18 2014 08:36am

surely somebody has taken an intro ochem class :C

^^

Regioselectivity and the electronegativity of the nucleophile are pretty important.

i answered my own question, i just confused two answers in my head lol. now i wanna know why my answer guide is telling me that HX addition to an alkene does not produce a racemic mixture. HX addition doesnt have to be anti does it? nucleophile attack is 50/50 anti vs syn because theres no preference for which side of the trigonal planar molecule, unless massive steric hinderance?

nevermind i answered my own question again lol im so dumb

Just make sure you know what mechanism the compound is going to perform, i.e. SN1, SN2, E1, E2, etc.
Steric hinderence, nucleophilicity, leaving group ability, and regioselectivity play a role in determining all of these, and for most compounds it'll be clear whether it's a syn or anti addition.

we arent even being tested on sn1/sn2 yet lol the midterm just has e1 e2, addition, electrophilic aromatic substitutions

That's weird, SN1 and SN2 are the most basic substitution mechanisms.