Explaining the stability of carbocations
This page considers some recent research that makes answering one of the assessment statements in the 2023 syllabus somewhat problematical. The stabilising effect of alkyl groups on carbocations has been confirmed to be due to hyperconjugation, not the positive (+) inductive effect of alkyl groups which is given in IB textbooks to explain Markovnikov addition to unsymmetrical alkenes. Alkyl groups have been confirmed...