Static solvent effect

The fewer factors that lower ion-radical stability, the more easily ion-radical organic reactions proceed. Because ion-radicals are charged species with unpaired electrons, solvents for the ion-radical reactions have to be polar too, incapable of expelling cationic or anionic groups that the ion-radical bears as well as chipping off radicals from it (especially to abstract the hydrogen atom). Static solvent effects can be subdivided on general and specific ones. 

Static solvent effects, transition-state theory... 

In this chapter we consider static solvent effects on the rate constant for chemical reactions in solution. The static equilibrium structure of the solvent will modify the potential energy surface for the chemical reaction. This effect can be analyzed within the framework of transition-state theory. The results are as follows. 

The structure of the activated complex may be perturbed compared to the gas phase when it is placed in a solvent. We derive an exact expression for the static solvent effect on the rate constant and an exact expression for the relation between the... 

In our discussion of the transition-state theory with static solvent effects, it was noticed that it is a mean field description where the effects of dynamical fluctuations in the solvent molecule positions and velocities were excluded. 

Chapters 9-11 deal with elementary reactions in condensed phases. Chapter 9 is on the energetics of solvation and, for bimolecular reactions, the important interplay between diffusion and chemical reaction. Chapter 10 is on the calculation of reaction rates according to transition-state theory, including static solvent effects that are taken into account via the so-called potential-of-mean force. Finally, in Chapter 11, we describe how dynamical effects of the solvent may influence the rate constant, starting with Kramers theory and continuing with the more recent Grote-Hynes theory for... 

Dynamic solvent effect — is a phenomenon typical for adiabatic -> electron transfer and -> proton transfer reactions. This effect is responsible for a dependence of the reaction rate on solvent relaxation parameters. The initial search for a dynamic solvent effect (conventionally assumed to be a feature of reaction adiabatic-ity) consisted in checking the viscosity effect. However, this approach can lead to controversial conclusions because the viscosity cannot be varied without changing the -> permittivity, i.e. a dynamic solvent effect cannot be unambiguously separated from a -> static solvent effect [i]. Typically a slower solvent relaxation goes along with a higher permittivity, and the interplay of the two solvents effects can easily look as if either of them is weaker. The problems of theoretical treatment of the dynamic solvent effect of solvents having several relaxation times are considered in refs, [ii-iii]. 

Static solvent effect — is widely understood as the dependence of -> reaction rate on solvent -> permittivity. The most systematic studies of this effect were stimulated by the early version of -> Marcus theory and mostly consisted in experimental verification of Mar-... 

First of all, liquid-phase studies generally do not obtain data which allows static and dynamic solvent effects to be separated [96,97], Static solvent effects produce changes in activation barriers. Dynamic solvent effects induce barrier recrossing and can lead to modification of rate constants without changing the barrier height. Dynamic solvent effects are temperature and viscosity dependent. In some cases they can cause a breakdown in transition state theory [96]. 

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