Acid-base catalysis classical theory

The subject of salt effects in one which arises in all reaction-kinetic problems involving electrolytes and has no special relevance to acid-base catalysis. However, much of the early work on salt effects was in fact carried out with catalyzed reactions, and a neglect of these effects is still the commonest cause of misinterpretation of data on acid-base catalysis, so that a brief account will be given here. It is convenient to include under the heading of salt effects the various ways in which the assumptions of the classical theory have been modified by modern views on electrolytic solutions. Since the catalyst itself is commonly ionic, the same problems often arise even when no other electrolyte has been added to the system. 

So far in this chapter, the chemical biology reader has been introduced to examples of biocatalysts, kinetics assays, steady state kinetic analysis as a means to probe basic mechanisms and pre-steady-state kinetic analysis as a means to measure rates of on-catalyst events. In order to complete this survey of biocatalysis, we now need to consider those factors that make biocatalysis possible. In other words, how do biocatalysts achieve the catalytic rate enhancements that they do This is a simple question but in reality needs to be answered in many different ways according to the biocatalyst concerned. For certain, there are general principles that underpin the operation of all biocatalysts, but there again other principles are employed more selectively. Several classical theories of catalysis have been developed over time, which include the concepts of intramolecular catalysis, orbital steering , general acid-base catalysis, electrophilic catalysis and nucleophilic catalysis. Such classical theories are useful starting points in our quest to understand how biocatalysts are able to effect biocatalysis with such efficiency. 

The classical theory of catalysis supposed that the hydrogen and hydroxyl ions were the only effective catalysts in solutions of acids and bases. In a few instances early attempts were made to remedy some of the discrepancies encountered by attributing some catalytic power to undissociated acid molecules, but these attempts were mostly based on incorrect values for degrees of dissociation, and they did not take into account the possibility of primary or secondary salt effects. However, later work has shown definitely that species other than hydrogen and hydroxyl ions often can exert a catalytic effect, and the development of these ideas was closely linked with a closer understanding of the nature of the hydrogen ion in solution, and with the clarification of acid-base definitions (cf. Bell, 11). 

The early study of catalysis by acids and bases was concerned chiefly with the use of catalysed reactions for investigating general problems of physical chemistry. For example, the first correct formulation of the kinetic laws of a first-order reaction was made by Wilhelmy in 1850 in connection with his measurements of the catalytic inversion of cane sugar by acids. Catalytic reactions also played an important part in the foundation of the classical theory of electrolytic dissociation towards the end of the nineteenth century, and kinetic measurements (notably on the... 

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