You're right, I don't think you should have ch30 and oh as leaving groups.
Remember that your hydroxyl group should be protonated by a water or an
alcohol or acid before the sn2 reaction occurs. I don't think I had any
ch30's when I did the problems, but I think it's a bad leaving group.
Maybe there is another reaction to use that you didn't notice?
Kristina
On Wed, 4 Dec 1996 cudneyee@plu.edu wrote:
> I was doing the problems in chapter ten and i found that many of my
> leaving groups were OH and CH3O. I am confused because i thought that
> these were bad leaving groups because they are strong bases? if there is
> anybody out there that can clear up my confusion i would love it.
>
> thanks,
> Cudneyee
>
>