The Polar effect or electronic effect in chemistry is the effect exerted by a substituent on modifying electrostatic forces operating on a nearby reaction center. The main contributors to the polar effect are the inductive effect, mesomeric effect and the through-space electronic field effect. Multicolored chemicals are frequent hallmarks of chemistry. ... In organic chemistry, a substituent is an atom or group of atoms subsituted in place of a hydrogen atom on the parent chain of a hydrocarbon. ... In physics, the electrostatic force is the force arising between static (that is, non-moving) electric charges. ... A chemical reaction is a process that results in the interconversion of chemical substances [1]. The substance or substances initially involved in a chemical reaction are called reactants. ... The inductive effect is associated with the dipole moment of the compound R-X. If X is at the negative end of a dipole moment, it will draw electrons from the ring and produce -I effect. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

An electron withdrawing group or EWG draws electrons away from a reaction center. When this center is an electron rich carbanion or a alkoxide anion the presence of the substituent has a stabilizing effect. A carbanion is an anion in which carbon has an unshared pair of electrons and bears a negative charge usually with three substituents for a total of eight valence electrons. ... An alkoxide has an organic group bonded to a negatively charged oxygen atom, they are generally basic. ...

Examples of electron withdrawing groups are:

• halogens (F, Cl),
• nitriles CN,
• carboxylic acids COOH

An electron releasing group or ERG releases electrons into a reaction center and as such stabilizes electron deficient carbanions. The halogens are a chemical series. ... A nitrile is any organic compound which has a -C≡N functional group. ... Structure of a carboxylic acid Carboxylic acids are organic acids characterized by the presence of a carboxyl group, which has the formula -C(=O)-OH, usually written as COOH. In general, the salts and anions of carboxylic acids are called carboxylates. ... A carbanion is an anion in which carbon has an unshared pair of electrons and bears a negative charge usually with three substituents for a total of eight valence electrons. ...

Examples of electron releasing groups are:

• alkyl groups

The total substituent effect is the combination of the polar effect and the combined steric effects. An Alkyl is a univalent radical containing only carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged in a chain. ...

In Electrophilic aromatic substitution and nucleophilic aromatic substitution substituents are divided into activating groups and deactivating groups where the direction of activation or deactivation is also taken into account. Electrophilic aromatic substitution or EAS is an organic reaction in which an atom, usually hydrogen, in an aromatic system is replaced by an electrophile. ... A nucleophilic substitution is a substitution reaction in organic chemistry in which the nucleophile displaces a good leaving group, such as a halide on an aromatic ring. ... In organic chemistry, a functional group is called an activating group if a benzene molecule to which it is attached more readily participates in electrophilic substitution reactions. ... In organic chemistry, a deactivating group is a functional group attached to a benzene molecule that removes electron density from the benzene ring, making electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions slower and more difficult than they would be on benzene alone. ...

External links

• Polar effect definition by the IUPAC Gold Book Link