In chemistry, an electrofuge is a leaving group that does not retain the lone pair of electrons from its previous bond with another species (in contrast to a nucleofuge, which does). It can result from the heterolytic breaking of covalent bonds. After this reaction an electrofuge may possess either a positive or a neutral charge; this is governed by the nature of the specific reaction. An example would be the loss of H+ from a molecule of benzene during nitration. The word 'electrofuge' is frequently found in older literature, but its use in contemporary organic chemistry is now uncommon.
See also Nucleofuge — counterpart retaining electrons Nucleophile and electrophile — analogous entering groups Reductive elimination — similar process with metal complexes, but with two single-electron electrofuges Carbenium ion — common non-metal electrofuges, with assessment of relative stability Fragmentation (mass spectrometry) — often an electrofugal process
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