Chemical Kinetics (Pt.

1)

Introduction and Factors

Affecting Reaction Rates

By Shawn P. Shields, Ph.D.

This work is licensed by Shawn P. Shields-Maxwell under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License.
 What is Chemical Kinetics?

Chemical kinetics is the study of chemical

reaction rates.

Kinetics can be more simply described as how

the concentration of a given reactant or
product changes in time during a chemical
reaction.
 What is Chemical Kinetics?

In kinetics experiments, reaction conditions

are changed in a systematic way.

The effect on the rate of the reaction

(i.e., speed of reaction) is measured.

Reaction rates can be measured using a

variety of spectroscopic methods.
 Kinetics and Mechanism

Kinetics provides a way to study complicated

reactions and determine how they proceed.

Once we know how a reaction proceeds, we

may be able to learn to control it.

Kinetic studies can also provide evidence and

support for a theory about how a reaction
works (its mechanism), but can never “prove”
the mechanism.
Macroscopic vs Microscopic Aspects of Kinetics

The macroscopic aspect involves how fast

the reaction runs (overall).

Rate laws are determined by experiment.

Rate laws show the dependence on

concentrations and/or partial pressures of
reactants.
Macroscopic vs Microscopic Aspects of Kinetics

The microscopic aspect of reactions

involves how the reaction proceeds at
the molecular level.
A reaction mechanism is determined,
which includes a series of elementary
steps in converting reactants to
products.
 Kinetics and Mechanism

Example: SN1 Reaction

t-butyl bromide methanol methyl-t-butyl ether

When t-butyl bromide is boiled in methanol, the reaction

produces methyl-t-butyl ether.

This looks like a very specific reaction, but it can actually be

placed in a large category of reactions called “First-Order
Nucleophilic Substitution” (or SN 1).
 Mechanism for SN1 Reaction

Step 1 (slow):

Step 2 (fast):

Step 3 (fast):
 Collision Theory and Reaction Rate

Collision theory offers the basic framework

for understanding chemical kinetics.

The basic assumption is that molecules must

come into contact (collide) to react.

Therefore, (forward) reaction rates are

affected by several factors.
 Factors Affecting Reaction Rates

1) Concentration of the reactants (higher

concentration leads to a faster rate because
there are more collisions)

2) Temperature (higher T leads to more collisions

and with greater energy, which leads to a faster
rate)
 Factors Affecting Reaction Rates

3) The physical state of the reactants:

Molecules must mix to react (solutions provide
more opportunities for mixing)
The amount of surface area on a solid available
for reaction
Nanoparticles have more surface area than
larger particles.
More surface area; faster rate
 Factors Affecting Reaction Rates

4) The addition of a catalyst (usually involves a

different mechanism of reaction)

Enzymes, such as
Trypsin, act as catalysts
in chemical reactions.

Trypsin Active Site by Fdardel (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via
Wikimedia Commons
 Next up…

Reaction rates and how

they change with
concentration (Pt. 2)