Question

Sort the following carbocations according to their stability.

• A. $-H_3{C}^{+}$
• B. Primary
• C. Secondary
• D. Tertiary

Answer 1

• The stability of carbocations increases as we go from primary to secondary to tertiary carbons. Firstly, this is due to hyperconjugation, which invokes stabilization through donation of the electrons in C-H sigma bonds to the empty p-orbital of the carbocation.
• The second reason is the presence of alkyl groups as being “electron-releasing” through inductive effects. That is, a carbon connected to hydrogen will be electron rich, and can donate some of those electrons to the neighboring carbocation.