Polarized/ Polarizability in terms of nucleophiles and electrophiles

[Skolli20]

Because much of the definitions of electrophiles and nucleophiles deals with the definitions of polarized and polarizability, I was wondering if anyone could just briefly go over how the two terms are different in respect to orgo? I looked through the 14A course reader and some chemistry community posts but I'm still not clear. Thanks!

[Chem_Mod]

Polarizing power tends to refer to cations, reflecting their ability to pull electron density from anions. Small, highly charged ions can pull more, and so have a higher polarizing power. Polarizability is the reverse -- the ability to have electron density pulled away. Electron density is easier to pull away the farther it is from the nucleus, thus big anions are highly polarizable. Similarly, small anions that hold their electron density tightly are not particularly polarizable.