nucleophiles vs electrophiles

[Dahriel Aron 3A]

Do we need to memorize the nucleophiles and electrophiles listed in the o chem book

[Destiny Dare 1D]

No, but you should be able to recognize whether something acts as a nucleophile or an electrophile

[PaulPatel]

I do not believe that it is necessary or even most efficient to simply memorize all of the electrophiles and nucleophiles presented in the course reader. Rather, it would be more beneficial in my opinion to know the definition behind each (Nucleophile wants to go to the positive stuff, Electrophile wants to get electrons) and thus you can decipher which one is which.

An example could be like OH-, which is a negative molecule, thus it would like to obtain more positive qualities, thus making it a nucleophile. Things like H3O+ may want electrons to become neutral, so it can be classified as an electrophile.

I hope this helped!