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Physical Chemistry 3: — Chemical Kinetics — - Christian-Albrechts ...

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6.3 Trajectory Calculations 146<br />

7. Transition state theory<br />

7.1 Foundations of transition state theory<br />

The concept of transition state theory (TST) or activated complex theory (ACT) goes<br />

back to H. Eyring and M. Polanyi (1935). TST is a statistical theory; it does not give<br />

information on the exact dynamics of a reaction. It does, however, give (statistical)<br />

information on product state distributions.<br />

There are two forms of TST:<br />

• Macrocanonical TST ⇒ ( ) for a macrocanonical ensemble of molecules with<br />

aconstant (an ensemble of molecules with energy states populated according<br />

to the Boltzmann distribution - each state being equally likely.)<br />

• Microcanonical TST (TST) ⇒ () for a microcanonical ensemble of molecules<br />

with specific energy.<br />

We will consider only the first version.<br />

The detailed application of TST also depends on whether or not the reaction has a<br />

distinctive potential energy barrier (⇒ conventional TST or variational TST).<br />

I<br />

Figure 7.1: Transition State Theory (TST): Fundamental equations and applications.

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