Why Chemical Reactions Happen

✍ Scribed by James Keeler, Peter Wothers

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 255
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

By tackling the most central ideas in chemistry, Why Chemical Reactions Happen provides the reader with all the tools and concepts needed to think like a chemist. The text takes a unified approach to the subject, aiming to help the reader develop a real overview of chemical processes, by avoiding the traditional divisions of physical, inorganic and organic chemistry.

To understand how chemical reactions happen we need to know about the bonding in molecules, how molecules interact, what determines whether an interaction is favourable or not, and what the outcome will be. Answering these questions requires an understanding of topics from quantum mechanics, through thermodynamics, to "curly arrows". In this book all of these topics are presented in a coherent and coordinated fashion, showing how each leads to a deeper understanding of chemical reactions.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contents
1. What this book is about and who should read it
2. What makes a reaction go?
3. Ionic interactions
4. Electrons in atoms
5. Electrons in simple molecules
6. Electrons in larger molecules
7. Reactions
8. Equilibrium
9. Rates of reaction
10. Bonding in extended systems — conjugation
11. Substitution and elimination reactions
12. The effects of the solvent
13. Leaving groups
14. Competing reactions
Index