acetylene vs ethylene- which has higher reactivity towards electrophilic attack and why?
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39Acetylene is less reactive than ethylene towards most of the electrophilic reagents. This is unexpected in view of the fact that the p-electron density in a triple bond is higher than that in a double bond. Possible reason for decreased reactivity of a triple bond towards electrophiles may be the fact that the bridged halonium ion from acetylene is more strained than the bridged halonium ion from ethylene.