How does temperature affect SN1 reactions?

1 Answer
anor277
Mar 20, 2017

A rise in temperature should accelerate a bond-breaking reaction......

Explanation:

Of course, temperature increase generally increases the rate of most chemical reactions, however, for a typical S_N1SN1 reaction, we may invoke the following elemental step:

RCH(X)R'rightleftharpoonsRC^+HR' +X^-

And this is the rate determining step of the reaction.........

And because this, the rate determining step, involves BOND-BREAKING, we would predict that an increase in temperature should result in the production of more RC^+HR species, and thus an INCREASE in the rate of reaction..........

Another way to look at this is to include heat, i.e. Delta, as a virtual reactant.............

RCH(X)R' +DeltarightleftharpoonsRC^+HR' +X^-

If we raise the temperature, we supply Delta, and, therefore, we should drive the equilibrium to the RIGHT as shown.

Related questions
See all questions in SN1 and SN2 Reactions
Impact of this question
11487 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License