What is a solvent effect in an experiment?
Answer:
A solvent effect would be any change in the kinetics of a reaction based on the solvent in which the reaction were taking place.
For example, a reaction that was between two salts (CaCl2 and Na3PO4 to yield Ca3(PO4)2 and NaCl) might occur rapidly in water, but very slowly in ethanol, because in this case the water solvates the ions in the experiment causing them to react more rapidly.
In organic chemistry, SN2 reactions are favored in aprotic solvents (like acetone or ether) as opposed to water, alcohol or amine (called polar protic solvents) where SN1 reactions favor polar protic solvents.
These are some simple examples of solvent effects. The choice of a solvent (or whether to have a solvent) usually has a strong impact on the reaction.
Yer doin' a nucleofuge displacement with an anionic nucleophile. Ordinarily the anion would be strongly solvated and steric hindrance plus delocalized charge would slow reaction kinetics and lessen/_\G push. In a dipolar aprotic solvent the cations are most strongly solvated. Anions are tiny angry nekkid bastards spoiling for a fight.
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