PPT Slide
- Free Radicals: Like carbocations, radicals are sp2 hybridized and planar. Unlike carbocations, the p orbital perpendicular to the plane of the molecule is not empty, but contains one unpaired electron. Radicals are also stabilized by alkyl groups as well as resonance.
- Carbanions: Are not electron deficient since they have an octet. They have tetrahedral geometry. Carbanions are nucleophilic and basic. They are destabilized by alkyl groups but stabilized by resonance.
- Carbenes: Uncharged reactive intermediates containing a divalent carbon atom. The simplest carbene has the formula :CH2. The carbon atom is sp2 hybridized. An unshared electron pair occupies one of the sp2 orbitals, and there is an empty p orbital extending above and below the plane of the molecule. Carbenes can act as electrophiles or nucleophiles since they have both a lone pair and an empty p orbital.