Polar aprotic solvents

Polar aprotic solvents are liquids that can dissolve many substances due to their polarity—meaning they have a positive and negative end—but they do not contain hydrogen atoms capable of forming hydrogen bonds. This means they don't donate hydrogen bonds themselves but can accept them. Examples include acetone and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). These solvents are important in chemistry because they can facilitate reactions by stabilizing charged particles without interfering through hydrogen bonding, making them especially useful in nucleophilic substitutions and other reaction types where controlling reactivity is essential.