On the Predictive Power of Chemical Concepts

Authors

  • Stephanie A. Grimmel Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 2, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
  • Markus Reiher Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 2, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland;, Email: markus.reiher@phys.chem.ethz.ch

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2021.311

PMID:

33902801

Keywords:

Automated mechanism exploration, Chemical concepts, Conceptual dft, Reactivity prediction

Abstract

Many chemical concepts can be well defined in the context of quantum chemical theories. Examples are the electronegativity scale of Mulliken and Jaffé and the hard and soft acids and bases concept of Pearson. The sound theoretical basis allows for a systematic definition of such concepts. However, while they are often used to describe and compare chemical processes in terms of reactivity, their predictive power remains unclear. In this work, we elaborate on the predictive potential of chemical reactivity concepts, which can be crucial for autonomous reaction exploration protocols to guide them by first-principles heuristics that exploit these concepts.

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Published

2021-04-28