Regarding the hybridization, stereochemistry, and inversion of amines, which of the following statem — Amines Chemistry Question
Question
Regarding the hybridization, stereochemistry, and inversion of amines, which of the following statements are chemically true?
💡 Solution & Explanation
(A) True: A nitrogen bonded to 3 different groups and a lone pair creates a stereocenter, making the molecule chiral (even though it cannot be resolved at room temp). (B) True: Quaternary salts lack the lone pair needed for inversion, so their chiral states are fixed and isolable. (C) True: Inversion involves passing through a planar transition state where the nitrogen temporarily rehybridizes to $sp^2$ and the lone pair sits in a pure $p$ -orbital. (D) False: Nitrogen uses $sp^3$ hybrid orbitals for sigma bonding, not pure $p$ -orbitals.