The kinetics of nucleophilic substitution processes in the alkyl halides. Part A—theory

Activation energies for substitution reactions of the type AC + B → A + CB, occurring in polar media and characterized by an abrupt change of the term along two coordinates have been calculated within the framework of the quantum‐mechanical theory of chemical reactions. In the case of nonadiabatic processes, the transmission coefficient and activation energy for these reactions are expressed in terms of characteristic parameters of the medium (reorganization energy, effective frequency of solvent fluctuation polarization) and the potential energy curves for intermolecular interactions between the reactants (AC and B) and between the products (A and BC).