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 What is solvents?
A solvent can be any substance, that turns into a solution by dissolving a solid,
liquid, or gaseous solute. The solvent is usually a liquid, but can also be a solid or
gas. In our daily life, we will find the best example of solvent, that is none other
than water. Solvent’s common uses ranges from dry cleaning agents, paint
thinners, nail polish removers, glues, spot removers, detergents and in personal
care products like perfumes

Examples of solvents
Toluene
Acetone
Methyl acetate
Hexane
Ethanol

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 Solvents find various applications in chemical,
pharmaceutical, oil, and gas industries, including in
chemical syntheses and purification processes.
 Most other commonly-used solvents are carbon-
containing chemicals. These are termed as organic
solvents. Solvents usually have a low boiling point and as a
result, they will evaporate easily or can be removed by
a various simple process called distillation, thereby leaving
the dissolved substance behind. Solvents are inert nature,
as they will not react chemically with the dissolved
compounds. These can also be used to extract soluble
compounds from a mixture, the most common example is
the brewing of coffee or tea with hot water.

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 The solvents are basically grouped into non-
polar, polar aprotic, and polar protic solvents.
 Solvent effects on chemical reaction
 Solvents can have an effect on various
properties of substances like solubility,
stability and reaction rates

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 A solute dissolves in a solvent only when it
forms favourable interactions with the
solvent. This dissolving process all depends
upon the free energy change of both solute
and solvent. This in turn free energy of
solvation is again depended upon several
factors.

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 Different solvents can affect the equilibrium constant of a reaction
by differential stabilisation of the reactant or product. The
equilibrium is shifted in the direction of the substance that is
preferentially stabilised. Stabilisation of the reactant or product
can occur through any of the different non-covalent interactions
with the solvent such as H-bonding, dipole-dipole interactions,
van der waals interactions etc.
 In another instance, the ionisation equilibrium of an acid or a base
is affected by a solvent change. The effect of the solvent is not
only because of its acidity or basicity but also because of its
dielectric constant and its ability to preferentially solvate and
thus stabilise certain species in acid-base equilibria. A change in
the solvating ability or dielectric constant can thus influence the
acidity or basicity.

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 Solvents can affect rates through
equilibrium-solvent effects that can be
explained on the basis of the transition state
theory. In essence, the reaction rates are
influenced by differential solvation of the
starting material and transition state by the
solvent.

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 The solvent used in substitution reactions inherently
determines the nucleophilicity of the nucleophile. As
such, solvent conditions significantly affect the
performance of a reaction with certain solvent
conditions favouring one reaction mechanism over
another. For SN1 reactions the solvent's ability
to stabilise the intermediate carbocation is of direct
importance to its viability as a suitable solvent. The
ability of polar solvents to increase the rate of SN1
reactions is a result of the polar solvent's solvating the
reactant intermediate species, i.e., the carbocation,
thereby decreasing the intermediate energy relative
to the starting material.

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 The SN1 reaction is a substitution reaction in
organic chemistry. ‘SN’ stands for
nucleophilic substitution and the ‘1’
represents the fact that the rate-determining
step is unimolecular. The reaction involves a
carbocation intermediate and is commonly
seen in reactions of secondary or tertiary
alkyl halides under strongly basic conditions
or, under strongly acidic conditions, with
secondary or tertiary alcohols.
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 The SN2 reaction is a type of reaction mechanism that
is common in organic chemistry. In this mechanism,
one bond is broken and one bond is formed
synchronously. SN2 is a kind of nucleophilic
substitution reaction mechanism.
 The case for SN2 reactions is quite different, as the
lack of solvation on the nucleophile increases the rate
of an SN2 reaction.
 The reactions involving charged transition metal
complexes (cationic or anionic) are dramatically
influenced by solvation, especially in the polar media.

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