Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 28, 2026
Study of Protein Dynamics via Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy
Published on: April 13, 2022
Nucleophilic substitution dynamics: comparing wave packet calculations with experiment
M Kowalewski1, J Mikosch, R Wester
1Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , D-81377 Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
The reactive collision of chloride anions and methyl iodide molecules forming iodide anions and methyl chloride is a typical example of a concerted bimolecular nucleophilic substitution (SN2) reaction. We present wave packet dynamics calculations to investigate quantum effects in the collinear gas phase reaction. A new type of reduced coordinate system is introduced to allow for an efficient solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation on an ab initio potential energy surface. The reduced coordinates were designed to study the direct rebound mechanism under the Walden inversion. Especially the suppressed direct rebound mechanism at low collision energies, the quantum effects of the initial state preparation and the influence of the CH3 inversion mode are addressed. The internal energy distributions of the molecular product are evaluated from the wave packet calculations and compared to experimental results obtained with crossed-beam velocity map ion imaging. The observed reactivity is discussed in light of a dynamical barrier, a concept that is illustrated by the wave packet dynamics.
More Related Videos
10:52Line Shape Analysis of Dynamic NMR Spectra for Characterizing Coordination Sphere Rearrangements at a Chiral Rhenium Polyhydride Complex
Published on: July 27, 2022
08:48High-Resolution Neutron Spectroscopy to Study Picosecond-Nanosecond Dynamics of Proteins and Hydration Water
Published on: April 28, 2022
Related Concept Videos
02:34Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions
In 1896, the German chemist Paul Walden discovered that he could interconvert pure enantiomeric (+) and (-) malic acids through a series of reactions. This conversion suggested the involvement of optical inversion during the substitution reaction. Further, in 1930, Sir Christopher Ingold described for the first time two different forms of nucleophilic substitution reactions, which are known as SN1 (nucleophilic substitution unimolecular) and SN2 (nucleophilic substitution...
02:14SN2 Reaction: Kinetics
In a chemical reaction, a relationship exists between the concentration of reactants and the rate at which the reaction proceeds. The study to measure this relationship is known as the kinetics of a chemical reaction. Kinetic studies are used to deduce the rate law of a chemical reaction, which provides information about the species involved during the transition state of the rate-determining step. Thus, kinetic studies help to derive the mechanism of a...
02:05SN1 Reaction: Kinetics
However, Sir Christopher Ingold and Edward D. Hughes, who studied the kinetics of various nucleophilic substitution reactions, noticed that a tertiary alkyl halide does undergo a nucleophilic substitution reaction in the presence of a weak nucleophile. While studying the substitution...
02:27Predicting Products: SN1 vs. SN2
With increased substitution on the alkyl halide,...
01:30Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution: Addition–Elimination (SNAr)
The reaction begins with an attack of the nucleophile on the carbon that holds the leaving group. This results in the delocalization of the π electrons over the ring carbons. The resonance interaction between...
02:26SN2 Reaction: Transition State
When the nucleophile approaches the electrophilic carbon with its lone pairs, the halide acts as a leaving group and moves away with the electron-pair bonded to the carbon. Dotted partial bonds represent the bonds being formed or broken...