Flippin–Lodge Angle

The Flippin–Lodge angle (FL angle) is one of two angles used by organic and biological chemists studying the relationship between the structure of molecules and ways that they react, for a particular common type of chemical reaction. The angles—the Bürgi–Dunitz (BD) and the Flippin–Lodge (FL)—describe the "angle of attack" of an electron-rich reactant, the nucleophile, with an electron-poor reactant, an electrophile, in particular when the latter is planar in shape. This is called a nucleophilic addition reaction and it is plays a central role in the biological chemistry taking place in the biosyntheses of metabolism, and is a central reaction "tool" in the toolkit of modern organic chemistry for constructing new molecules such as pharmaceuticals. Theory and use of these angles falls into the specialty of physical organic chemistry, which deals with chemical structure and reaction mechanism, in particular, the area called structure correlation.

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Heathcock, C.H. (1990) Understanding and controlling diastereofacial selectivity in carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions, Aldrichimica Acta 23(4):94-111, esp. p. 101. [http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigma-aldrich/docs/Aldrich/Acta/al_acta_23_04.pdf

Fleming, Ian (2010) Molecular Orbitals and Organic Chemical Reactions: Reference Edition, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 214–215.