Reaction mechanisms

Abstract

This chapter reviews the study of reaction rates that leads to an understanding of the mechanisms of reactions and the analysis into a sequence of elementary steps. It demonstrates how to construct rate laws from a proposed mechanism. It also outlines the elementary steps for simple rate laws that can be combined into an overall rate law: invoking the concept of the rate-determining step of a reaction, making the steady-state approximation, and supposing the existence of a pre-equilibrium. The chapter discusses the process of constructing the rate law for a reaction that takes place by a sequence of steps provides insight into chemical reactions at the molecular level. It focuses on chemical reactions that occur as a sequence of simpler steps and corresponding rate laws that can be combined into an overall rate law by applying a variety of approximations.