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Interacting Quantum Atoms Analysis of the Reaction Force: A Tool to Analyze Driving and Retarding Forces in Chemical
César Barrales-Martínez1, Soledad Gutiérrez-Oliva2, Alejandro Toro-Labbé2
1Departamento de Química Orgánica y Fisicoquímica, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad de Chile, Sergio Livingstone 1007, Independencia, Santiago, Chile.
Abstract:
The analysis of the reaction force and its topology has provided a wide range of fruitful concepts in the theory of chemical reactivity over the years, allowing to identify chemically relevant regions along a reaction profile. The reaction force (RF), a projection of the Hellmann-Feynman forces acting on the nuclei of a molecular system onto a suitable reaction coordinate, is partitioned using the interacting quantum atoms approach (IQA). The exact IQA molecular energy decomposition is now shown to open a unique window to identify and quantify the chemical entities that drive or retard a chemical reaction. The RF/IQA coupling offers an extraordinarily detailed view of the type and number of elementary processes that take reactants into products, as tested on two sets of simple reactions.
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