Electron-withdrawing group

In chemistry, an electron-withdrawing group (EWG) is a substituent that has some of the following kinetic and thermodynamic implications:

• with regards to electron transfer, electron-withdrawing groups enhance the oxidizing power tendency of the appended species. Tetracyanoethylene is an oxidant because the alkene is appended to four cyano substituents, which are electron-withdrawing.
• with regards to acid-base reactions, acids with electron-withdrawing groups species have low acid dissociation constants. For EWG's attached to benzene, this effect is described by the Hammett equation, which allows EWGs to be discussed quantitatively.
• with regards to nucleophilic substitution reactions, electron-withdrawing groups are susceptible to attack by weak nucleophiles. For example, compared to chlorobenzene, chlorodinitrobenzene is susceptible to reactions that displace chloride.
• electron-withdrawing substituents enhance the Lewis acidity. Relative to methyl, fluorine is a strong EWG. It follows that boron trifluoride is a stronger Lewis acid than is trimethylborane.