Coupling of Mechanical and Chemical Energy: Proton Affinity as a Function of External Force

Small action, large effect: The proton affinity has been defined as a function of an external mechanical force and its applicability as a chemical concept is explored (see scheme). It is shown that forces in the sub-nN to nN range change the proton affinity of small model molecules by values ranging from kT up to several 10 kJ mol−1, which suggests that these affinity changes are chemically significant.