Arrow pushing organic paradigms

Organic chemists have codified a number of rules and guidelines as aids to arrow pushing. We ll summarize a few of them here as a starting point for exploring the more diverse world of inorganic mechanisms. 

Stable molecules, the final products of reactions, typically have noble gas configurations on all atoms, that is, octets on all atoms B through F. 

Nucleophilic attack on a center with an inert gas configuration (an octet) must lead to bond breakage, that is, departure of a leaving group. 

Stable organic molecules strive toward eharge neutrality for all atoms, although charged species such as carbocations may arise as intermediates. Like charges on two adjacent atoms are a taboo in organic chemistry  

For us, the key question is how well do these guidelines carry over to inorganic chemistry Not too well, it turns out, as we discuss below  

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