Regioselectivity

In chemistry, regioselectivity is the preference of one direction of chemical bond making or breaking over all other possible directions ^{[1] [2]}. It can often apply to which of many possible positions a reagent will affect, such as which proton a strong base will abstract from an organic molecule, or where on a substituted benzene ring a further substituent will add.

A specific example is a halohydrin formation reaction with 2-propenylbenzene ^[3]:

The reaction product is a mixture of two isomers and the regioselectivity is said to be poor.

Regioselectivity in ring-closure reactions is subject to Baldwin's rules.

See also

• Cryptoregiochemistry

References