A novel stereochemistry retention mechanism in the S N 2 reaction
Jing Xie
Nature Communications, Published online: 01 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-72120-5 A recent study by Lu et al. reports the nucleophilic substitution reaction between Cl‒ and (CH3)3CI can proceed via a flip-over mechanism — a new type of SN2 pathway that retains configuration, discovered through simulations on a full-dimensional potential energy surface.