- the mechanism in Sn2 is concerted it’s mean that all happen at the same time this called a single step (one step) • back side attack (substrate effects) CH312 methly halides are the most reactive and fast becose the bulkiness is small and the Nuc can squeeze in to do the back side attack - back side attack (nucleophile effects) we need here a strong nucleophile that have negative charge ( anions ) example : CN - Cl - I - back side attack (solvents effects) the difference between protic / aprotic Aprotic solvents are solvents that cannot display (hydrogen bonding ) to run protic solvents we prefer (SN1-E1)