Le Chatalier’s principle

In contrast, the thermodynamic template effect in macrocycle synthesis is a process by which the presence of a metal ion template stabilises thermodynamically, or removes (e.g. by precipitation) one particular (usually cyclic) product from an equilibrating mixture, driving the equilibrium towards this thermodynamic minimum. This leads us to the conclusion that any thermodynamically stabilising influence may drive an equilibrium mixture towards a particular product according to Le Chatalier s Principle (in an equilibrating situation, the system will react to diminish the effects of externally applied changes in conditions). 

Henri Louis LeChatelier (1850-1936) a French chemist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who is most famous for devising Le Chatalier s principle to predict the effect of a change in conditions (T and p) on a chemical equilibrium, presented in 1885. He also carried out research on metallurgy, and worked as consulting engineer for a cement company. 

---