In organic chemistry, solvolysis is a special type of nucleophilic substitution where the nucleophile is a solvent molecule. The reaction mechanism for this chemical reaction is an SN1 reaction. Organic chemistry is the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and synthesis of organic compounds. ... In chemistry, nucleophilic substitution is a type of chemical reaction in which one nucleophile electron donor replaces another as a covalent substitute of some atom. ... In chemistry, a nucleophile (literally nucleus lover) is a reagent which is attracted to centres of positive charge. ... A solvent is a liquid that dissolves a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution. ... In science, a molecule is the smallest particle of a pure chemical substance that still retains its chemical composition and properties. ... An overall description of how a reaction occurs. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The SN1 reaction is an organic reaction in chemistry. ...

Solvolysis of a chiral reactant results in the racemate (as expected in SN1) but is often accompanied by Walden inversion. This is explained by postulating an ion pair whereby the leaving anion is still in close proximity to the carbocation and effectively shielding it from an attack by the nucleophile. In chemistry (especially organic chemistry), a molecule is chiral (and said to have chirality) if its overall structure and overall three-dimensional configuration is always chiral in accordance with the geometric definition (it cant be mapped to its mirror images) regardless of how the molecule is conformed. ... In chemistry, the reactants are the substances that exist at the start of a chemical reaction. ... In chemistry, a racemate is a mixture of equal amounts of left- and right-handed stereoisomers of a chiral molecules. ... ... A carbocation is an ion with a positively-charged carbon atom. ...