Hammond-Leffler effect

An extensive review with many examples125 shows that the reactivity-selectivity principle cannot be used to predict the selectivity of a reaction except in unique systems where one reaction is close to or diffusion controlled. The relative importance of the Hammond effect and the frontier-orbital effects determines the reactivity-selectivity relationship that will be found in a particular system. The review also concludes that the Hammond-Leffler a-value cannot be used as an indicator of transition-state structure. 

Many reactions exhibit effects of thermodynamics on reaction rates. Embodied in the Bell-Evans-Polanyi principle and extended and modified by many critical chemists in a variety of interesting ways, the idea can be expressed quantitatively in its simplest form as the Marcus theory (15-18). Murdoch (19) showed some time ago how the Marcus equation can be derived from simple concepts based on the Hammond-Leffler postulate (20-22). Further, in this context, the equation is expected to be applicable to a wide range of reactions rather than only the electron-transfer processes for which it was originally developed and is generally used. Other more elaborate theories may be more correct (for instance, in terms of the physical aspects of the assumptions involving continuity). For the present, our discussion is in terms of Marcus theory, in part because of its simplicity and clear presentation of concepts and in part because our data are not sufficiently reliable to choose anything else. We do have sufficient data to show that Marcus theory cannot explain all of the results, but we view these deviations as fairly minor. 

This effect illustrates another application of the Hammond—Leffler postulate (Section 6.13A). The arenium ion is a high-energy intermediate, and the step that leads to it is a highly endothermic step. Thus, according to the Hammond—Leffler postulate, there should be a strong resemblance between the arenium ion itself and the transition state leading to it. 

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