SN1 Reaction Steps and Carbocation Formation

The SN1 reaction follows a step-by-step pathway that begins with carbocation formation. In a polar protic solvent, a tertiary haloalkane can ionize so that only the substrate takes part in the rate-determining step, which is the slow step.

First, the haloalkane undergoes heterolytic cleavage to f...

Recall that when a tertiary halide reacts in an aqueous solution to give a nucleophilic substituted product, only the substrate participates in the rate-determining step. This unimolecular S_N1 process occurs through a multistep mechanism.

In the first step, the haloalkane ionizes through a high-energy transition state, generati...