Many investigators, notably Hughes, Ingold and collaborator have demonstrated that the mechanisms of nucleophilic replacement reactions at a saturated carbon atom may be classified into three general types. One mechanism, designated as S_N2 is the familiar bimolecular, usually second-order, substitution of an electron-donor such as hydroxide ion, alkoxide ion or acetate ion for the halide or a similar group as in equation (1), the replacement resulting in a complete Walden inversion.
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Roberts et al. (1942) studied this question.