The simplest way to define a nucleophile is that it is a Lewis base
(electron pair donor) Therefore, any Lewis base is a nucleophile. It
doesn't necesarily have to have a negative charge. (Ex. in class today,
H2O, and R-O-H's) Hope that helps.
-Kate
On Mon, 17 Mar 1997 bobbtl@plu.edu wrote:
> Is there a way to tell if an atom with an unshared electron pair, but no
> negative formal charge, is a likely nucleophile?
>
> Terra
>
>