21.10.2014 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

7.5 References 175<br />

8. Unimolecular reactions<br />

Unimolecular reactions are reactions in which only one species experiences chemical<br />

change.<br />

I<br />

Figure 8.1: Examples of unimolecular reactions.<br />

8.1 Experimental observations<br />

(1) There are many reactions governed by a first-order rate law,<br />

[A]<br />

= − ∞ [A] , (8.1)<br />

<br />

for example isomerization and dissociation reactions like<br />

Cyclopropane → Propene (8.2)<br />

-Butene → -Butene (8.3)<br />

C 2 H 6 → 2CH 3 (8.4)<br />

Cycloheptatriene → Toluene (8.5)<br />

(2) In these reactions, no other species than the reactants experience any chemical<br />

change.<br />

(3) These reactions have the same rates in the gas phase and in solution,<br />

gas phase ≈ solution phase , (8.6)<br />

i.e., the environment has no effect on the reaction rates!

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!