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JEE Main levelSingle correct optionDifficulty 2 of 3o1029

In methanol, toward , is a better nucleophile than although is more acidic than . The reason is that

  1. Asulfur is large and polarisable and is much less strongly hydrogen bonded by the solvent than oxygen
  2. B is a stronger base than
  3. C is much larger than
  4. Dsulfur is more electronegative than oxygen

Answer: A

Alkoxide is tightly hydrogen bonded by methanol, which reduces its nucleophilicity, and it is also less polarisable. Thiolate is the weaker base (CH3SH pKa about 10 versus about 15.5 for methanol) yet more nucleophilic because it is polarisable and weakly solvated.
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