electrophilic aromatic substitution Electrophilic aromatic substitution is an organic reaction in which an atom that is attached to an aromatic system (usually hydrogen) is replaced by an electrophile. Some of the most important electrophilic aromatic substitutions are aromatic ni ...

reactions, existing

substituent A substituent is one or a group of atoms that replaces (one or more) atoms, thereby becoming a moiety in the resultant (new) molecule. (In organic chemistry and biochemistry, the terms ''substituent'' and '' functional group'', as well as '' ...

groups on the

aromatic ring In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic (ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satu ...

influence the overall

reaction rate The reaction rate or rate of reaction is the speed at which a chemical reaction takes place, defined as proportional to the increase in the concentration of a product per unit time and to the decrease in the concentration of a reactant per uni ...

or have a directing effect on

positional isomer In chemistry, a structural isomer (or constitutional isomer in the IUPAC nomenclature) of a compound is another compound whose molecule has the same number of atoms of each element, but with logically distinct bonds between them. The term met ...

of the

product Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Prod ...

s that are formed. An electron donating group (EDG) or electron releasing group (ERG, Z in structural formulas) is an atom or

functional group In organic chemistry, a functional group is a substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the res ...

that donates some of its

electron density In quantum chemistry, electron density or electronic density is the measure of the probability of an electron being present at an infinitesimal element of space surrounding any given point. It is a scalar quantity depending upon three spatial ...

into a conjugated π system via

resonance Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillat ...

(mesomerism) or

inductive effect In chemistry, the inductive effect in a molecule is a local change in the electron density due to electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups elsewhere in the molecule, resulting in a permanent dipole in a bond. It is present in a σ (sig ...

s (or induction)—called +M or +I effects, respectively—thus making the π system more

nucleophilic In chemistry, a nucleophile is a chemical species that forms bonds by donating an electron pair. All molecules and ions with a free pair of electrons or at least one pi bond can act as nucleophiles. Because nucleophiles donate electrons, they a ...

. As a result of these

electronic effect An electronic effect influences the structure, reactivity, or properties of molecule but is neither a traditional bond nor a steric effect. In organic chemistry, the term stereoelectronic effect is also used to emphasize the relation between t ...

s, an

to which such a group is attached is more likely to participate in

electrophilic substitution Electrophilic substitution reactions are chemical reactions in which an electrophile displaces a functional group in a compound, which is typically, but not always, aromatic. Aromatic substitution reactions are characteristic of aromatic compounds ...

reaction. EDGs are therefore often known as activating groups, though

steric effect Steric effects arise from the spatial arrangement of atoms. When atoms come close together there is a rise in the energy of the molecule. Steric effects are nonbonding interactions that influence the shape (conformational isomerism, conformation ...

s can interfere with the reaction. An electron withdrawing group (EWG) will have the opposite effect on the nucleophilicity of the ring. The EWG removes electron density from a π system, making it less reactive in this type of reaction, and therefore called deactivating groups. EDGs and EWGs also determine the positions (relative to themselves) on the aromatic ring where substitution reactions are most likely to take place; this property is therefore important in processes of

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the intentional construction of organic compounds. Organic molecules are often more complex than inorganic compounds, and their synthesis has developed into one o ...

. Electron donating groups are generally ortho/para directors for

s, while electron withdrawing groups are generally meta directors with the exception of the halogens which are also ''ortho''/''para'' directors as they have

lone pair In chemistry, a lone pair refers to a pair of valence electrons that are not shared with another atom in a covalent bondIUPAC '' Gold Book'' definition''lone (electron) pair''/ref> and is sometimes called an unshared pair or non-bonding pair. L ...

s of electrons that are shared with the aromatic ring.

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