A Brief Review of Absolute Rate Theory

Absolute rate theory, the prediction of rate coefficients from first principles, has been reviewed in several excellent articles and texts which we wholeheartedly recommend to the interested reader. - In the following, we (very) briefly summarize the field. The references cited are meant to be representative of the field, but are certainly not exhaustive (in fact, this same caveat applies to the remainder of the chapter). 

Perhaps the best known expression in the kinetic theory of elementary bimolecular reactions is the empirical expression for the rate constant proposed in 1889 by Svante Arrhenius  

The Arrhenius equation, interpreted using the theory of Eyring, Evans, and M. Polanyi, seems at first glance to contain virtually all the information one would need to know about reaction kinetics. However, as hinted at previously, a number of reactions have been observed to exhibit behavior that does 

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