Unmasking the Hidden Thermodynamic Forces Driving Chemical Reactions
By Juan Gonzalez, 2025-10-29
Theoretical chemists in Germany have introduced a new framework to model the reactivity landscapes of chemical reactions, hoping to answer questions about what determines how reaction rates respond to thermodynamic driving forces.
Understanding the role of external factors in chemical reactions is central to theoretical and experimental chemistry research, and gaining deeper insight into these factors can help chemists steer reactions toward desired products, maximize yields, and limit unwanted side reactions.
Chemical reactions can be viewed as a continuous search for stability, measured by Gibbs free energy, and a reaction typically progresses along a path that lowers this energy.
Model links reaction energy to activation energy
Author summary: New framework models chemical reaction landscapes.
- Chemical reactions are driven by thermodynamic forces.
- Understanding these forces can help chemists control reaction outcomes.
- The new framework models the relationship between reaction energy and activation energy.