Chemical dynamics represents an aspect of chemistry that closely touches people’s everyday lives. It is the study of chemical reactions and reactivity and involves the analysis of chemical changes. Living organisms are dynamic chemical machines and most of the processes involved in our environment are consequent to a set of associated dynamic chemical phenomena. The measurement of reactivity is associated with knowledge of the thermodynamic and kinetic behaviour of a reaction system, and thus both of these topics are involved in the study of chemical dynamics. Knowledge of the geometrical and electronic aspects of the structure is also associated with the characteristic patterns of reactivity.
The following is a sampling of some particularly interesting topics in chemical dynamics:
– experimental research of elementary reactions using molecular beams
– theoretical studies of the energy profiles of reaction paths
– studies of complex rate phenomena involving diffusional limitations (e.g., reactions in condensed
media)
– chemical dynamics of processes occurring on solid surfaces (catalysis) or biological surfaces – chemical dynamics of electrode processes (electrochemical dynamics)
– chemical energetics and thermodynamic analysis of the stability of systems.