The mathematical origins of the kinetic compensation effect: 1. The effect of random experimental errors

The kinetic compensation effect states that there is a linear relationship between Arrhenius parameters ln A and E for a family of related processes. It is a widely observed phenomenon in many areas of science, notably heterogeneous catalysis. This paper explores one of the mathematical, rather than physicochemical, explanations for the compensation effect and for the isokinetic relationship. It is demonstrated, both theoretically and by numerical simulations, that random errors in kinetic data generate an apparent compensation effect (sometimes termed the statistical compensation effect) when the true Arrhenius parameters are constant. Expressions for the gradient of data points on a plot of ln A against E are derived when experimental kinetic data are analysed by linear regression, by non-linear regression and by weighted linear regression. It is shown that the most appropriate analysis technique depends critically on the error structure of the kinetic data. Whenever data points on a plot of ln A against E are in a straight line with a gradient close to 1/RT, then confidence ellipses should be calculated for each data point to investigate whether the apparent compensation effect arises from random errors in the kinetic measurements or has some other origin.