Transition state theory
Teoría del estado de transición
- Date
- 1935 · confidence high
- Place
- Princeton University, United States (Eyring); Manchester (Evans and Polanyi)
- Credited to
- Henry Eyring; Meredith Evans and Michael Polanyi (independently)
- People
- 👤 Henry Eyring1901–1981👤 Meredith Evans👤 Michael Polanyi1891–1976
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Reactions proceed through an activated complex in equilibrium with the reactants, allowing rate constants to be calculated from thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. It gives physical meaning to the Arrhenius equation.
Simultaneous publication by Eyring and by Evans-Polanyi in 1935.
What it led to
- Theoretical chemical kinetics
- Computational reaction chemistry
- Enzymology (catalysis by transition-state stabilisation)
Built on
- Arrhenius equation and activation energy1889
- potential energy surfaces (Eyring-Polanyi, 1931)
Made possible
- Femtochemistry1987
- design of catalysts and enzyme inhibitors