Carbocation vs. Carbanion

Carbocationnoun

(chemistry) any cation containing an excess positive charge on one or more carbon atoms

Carbocation

A carbocation () is an ion with a positively charged carbon atom. Among the simplest examples are the methenium CH+3, methanium CH+5 and vinyl C2H+3 cations.

Carbanionnoun

(organic chemistry) any organic anion of general formula R3C-

Carbanion

A carbanion is an anion in which carbon is trivalent (forms three bonds) and bears a formal negative charge (in at least one significant resonance form).Formally, a carbanion is the conjugate base of a carbon acid: R3CH + :B− → R3C:− + HBwhere B stands for the base. The carbanions formed from deprotonation of alkanes (at an sp3 carbon), alkenes (at an sp2 carbon), arenes (at an sp2 carbon), and alkynes (at an sp carbon) are known as alkyl, alkenyl (vinyl), aryl, and alkynyl (acetylide) anions, respectively.