Hi! To show inversion, all you need to do is to swap the places of any two groups, while keeping the rest the same. So in this example I showed the ethyl group inverting with the nucleophile, but I could have kept the position of the ethyl and LG the same and swapped H and CH3 instead.

(This is the single swap rule – quick video right here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKbyrF2tXw )

Published rates indicate that the rate of reaction for methyl halides is roughly 30 times the rate for primary halides (e.g. benzyl chloride) assuming the nucleophile is the same. That’s the rough difference in rates.

OK, thank you for visiting the side Madhav and I am glad you find it useful. Please let me know if you see any mistakes / typos. James

“Chirality center” is an approved IUPAC term. https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01060 .

The reason I dislike stereocenter in this context is that it also applies to the carbon atoms on double bonds capable of cis/trans isomerism. For that reason I choose not to use it here.

For the audience of this website I personally see no problem with shortening “chirality center” to “chiral center” since pretty much everyone knows that it means a carbon with four different substituents.