nucleophilicadj.

1933 C. K. Ingold in Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 1121 The terms electrophilic (electron-seeking) and nucleophilic (nucleus-seeking) are suggested in place of the adjectives anionoid and cationoid introduced by Lapworth.

1946 Nature 20 July 94/1 Those bimolecular and unimolecular substitutions in which a nucleophilic reagent displaces halogen as halide ion from an alkyl halide.

1968 R. O. C. Norman Princ. Org. Synthesis iv. 127 A thiol anion, RS, although less basic than its oxygen analogue, RO, is more strongly nucleophilic.

1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 3887/1 The catalytic subsite..contains an extremely nucleophilic serine residue which can be blocked by organophosphates.

1935 E. D. Hughes & C. K. Ingold in Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 245 According as this [sc. the substituting agent] is nucleophilic..or electrophilic.., the reaction may be termed a ‘nucleophilic’ or ‘electrophilic’ substitution.

1946 Nature 20 July 94/1 That the polar effect is not absent in general from bimolecular nucleophilic substitutions is consistent with the result of exchanging the electron-releasing methyl substituents for electron-attracting groups.

1981 P. Sykes Guidebk. to Mechanism in Org. Chem. (ed. 5) iv. 99 Not all nucleophilic displacement reactions proceed so as to give 100% yields of the desired products!

2001 J. Clayden et al. Org. Chem. xii. 279 The product of a nucleophilic addition to a carbonyl group is not always a stable compound.