CHAPTER 1TheBasics ofReactionKineticsforChemicalReactionEnginAering 5
Indiscussionsonchemicalkinetics,thetermsmechanism ormodelfre
quentlyappearandareusedtomeananassumedreactionnetwork
oraplausi
blesequence
ofstepsforagivenreaction.Sincethelevels ofdetailininvesti
gatingreactionnetworks,sequencesandstepsaresodifferent,thewords
mechanismandmodelhavetodatelargelyacquiredbadconnotationsbecause
theyhavebeenassociatedwithmuchspeculation.Thus,theywillbeusedcare
fullyinthistext.
Asachemicallyreactingsystemproceedsfromreactantstoproducts,a
number
ofspeciescalledintermediatesappear,reachacertainconcentration,
andultimatelyvanish.Threedifferenttypes
ofintermediatescanbeidentified
thatcorrespondtothedistinctionamongnetworks,reactions,andsteps.The
firsttype
ofintermediateshasreactivity,concentration,andlifetimecompara
bletothose
ofstablereactantsandproducts.Theseintermediatesaretheones
thatappearinthereactions
ofthenetwork.Forexample,considerthefollow
ingproposalforhowtheoxidation
ofmethaneatconditionsnear700Kand
atmosphericpressuremayproceed(seeScheme
l.l.l).Thereactingsystemmay
evolvefromtwostablereactants,
CH
4and°2,totwostableproducts, CO2and
H
20,throughanetwork offourreactions.Theintermediatesareformaldehyde,
CH
20;hydrogenperoxide, H202; andcarbonmonoxide, CO.Thesecondtype
ofintermediateappearsinthesequence ofstepsforanindividual reaction of
thenetwork.Thesespecies(e.g.,freeradicalsinthegasphase)areusuallypres
entinverysmallconcentrationsandhaveshortlifetimeswhencomparedto
those
ofreactantsandproducts.Theseintermediateswillbecalledreactivein
termediatestodistinguishthemfromthemorestablespeciesthataretheones
thatappearinthereactions
ofthenetwork.ReferringtoScheme1.1.1,forthe
oxidation
ofCH20 to giveCOandH202, thereactionmayproceedthrougha
postulatedsequence
oftwostepsthatinvolvetworeactiveintermediates, CHO
andH0
2
.Thethirdtype ofintermediateiscalledatransitionstate,whichby
definition
cannotbeisolatedandisconsideredaspeciesintransit.Eachele
mentarystepproceedsfromreactantstoproductsthroughatransitionstate.
Thus,foreach
ofthetwoelementarystepsintheoxidation ofCH
20,thereis
atransitionstate.Althoughthenature
ofthetransitionstatefortheelementary
stepinvolving
CHO,02'CO,andH0
2isunknown,otherelementarystepshave
transitionstatesthathavebeenelucidatedingreaterdetail.Forexample,the
configurationshowninFig.1.1.1isreachedforaninstantinthetransitionstate
ofthestep:
Thestudy
ofelementarystepsfocusesontransitionstates,andthekinetics
ofthesestepsrepresentthefoundation ofchemicalkineticsandthehighestlevel
ofunderstandingofchemicalreactivity.Infact,theuse oflasersthatcangen
eratefemtosecondpulseshasnowallowedforthe
"viewing"ofthereal-time
transitionfromreactantsthroughthetransition-statetoproducts(A.Zewail,The