The Activated Complex in Chemical Reactions
1935/02/01 by Henry Eyring · 5,793 citations
Chemistry · #Activated complex #Chemical Reaction Mechanisms #Chemical kinetics #Chemical reaction #Chemistry #Classical mechanics #Computational chemistry #Decomposition #Deuterium #History and advancements in chemistry #Kinetic energy #Kinetic isotope effect #Kinetics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Reaction rate #Reaction rate constant #Simple (philosophy) #Statistical mechanics #Statistical physics #Thermodynamics #Various Chemistry Research Topics
paper · doi:10.1063/1.1749604
published in The Journal of Chemical Physics 3(2), 107-115 (American Institute of Physics)
openalex publication_date 1935/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract
The calculation of absolute reaction rates is formulated in terms of quantities which are available from the potential surfaces which can be constructed at the present time. The probability of the activated state is calculated using ordinary statistical mechanics. This probability multiplied by the rate of decomposition gives the specific rate of reaction. The occurrence of quantized vibrations in the activated complex, in degrees of freedom which are unquantized in the original molecules, leads to relative reaction rates for isotopes quite different from the rates predicted using simple kinetic theory. The necessary conditions for the general statistical treatment to reduce to the usual kinetic treatment are given.
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