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Activated complex
In chemistry, an activated complex is the high energy structure formed during the transition stage of a chemical reaction, between the reactants and products, characteristic of the configuration species at or near the saddle point of the potential energy surface. [1] An example of a simplified activated complex for a combination reaction is diagrammed below:
Each activated complex is associated with a specific activation energy, unique to each activated complex species in the mechanism. The activated complex, according to American chemical engineer Linus Pauling, is said to have “a larger energy (enthalpy) value than the reactants”. [2]
History
The activated complex theory, which enables the rate constants in chemical reactions to be calculated using statistical thermodynamics, was developed by American chemistry Henry Eyring and colleagues in the 1930s. [3] The theory seems to trace to the publication of the 1929 formula for the energy of interaction of three or four electrons, such as in the approach interaction between two noble gas atoms that attract each other at large distance, but at short distance are repellent, by German-born American physicist Fritz London. [4]
References
1. Activation complex – IUPAC Goldbook
2. Pauling, Linus. (1969). General Chemistry (pg. 565). Dover.
3. (a) Daintith, John. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Chemistry. Oxford University Press.
(b) Eyring, Henry. (1935). “The Activated Complex in Chemical Reactions” (abstract), J. Chem. Phys. Vol. 3, Issue 2, 107.
4. Snow, Richard and Eyring, Henry. (1957). “Activated Complex Energies” (abstract), J. Phys. Chem., 61 (1): 1-6.
Each activated complex is associated with a specific activation energy, unique to each activated complex species in the mechanism. The activated complex, according to American chemical engineer Linus Pauling, is said to have “a larger energy (enthalpy) value than the reactants”. [2]
History
The activated complex theory, which enables the rate constants in chemical reactions to be calculated using statistical thermodynamics, was developed by American chemistry Henry Eyring and colleagues in the 1930s. [3] The theory seems to trace to the publication of the 1929 formula for the energy of interaction of three or four electrons, such as in the approach interaction between two noble gas atoms that attract each other at large distance, but at short distance are repellent, by German-born American physicist Fritz London. [4]
References
1. Activation complex – IUPAC Goldbook
2. Pauling, Linus. (1969). General Chemistry (pg. 565). Dover.
3. (a) Daintith, John. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of Chemistry. Oxford University Press.
(b) Eyring, Henry. (1935). “The Activated Complex in Chemical Reactions” (abstract), J. Chem. Phys. Vol. 3, Issue 2, 107.
4. Snow, Richard and Eyring, Henry. (1957). “Activated Complex Energies” (abstract), J. Phys. Chem., 61 (1): 1-6.
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