Chemical reactivity

Chemical reactivity is the tendency of a substance to undergo chemical reactions by forming or breaking chemical bonds. It depends on molecular structure, reaction conditions, and the available reaction pathways.

Activation energy: The minimum energy barrier reactants must overcome for a chemical reaction to proceed. It helps explain why a reactive substance may still react slowly.
Chemical bond: An attractive interaction that holds atoms or ions together in a substance. Reactivity involves changing the bonds that hold reactants and products together.
Organic synthesis: The construction of organic molecules through planned sequences of chemical reactions. Synthetic routes depend on selecting reactions that transform chosen bonds selectively.
Chemical stability: The persistence of a substance against chemical change under specified conditions. Stability describes resistance to change, the inverse perspective on reactivity.
Transition state: A short-lived, high-energy arrangement of atoms at the top of a reaction’s energy barrier. It is the critical structure bonds pass through as they form or break.
Electronegativity: A measure of an atom’s tendency to attract shared electrons in a chemical bond. Differences between atoms help determine bond polarity and sites of reaction.
Chemoselectivity: The preferential reaction of one functional group in a molecule containing several reactive groups. It captures how different sites compete to react under the same conditions.
Thermodynamic stability: A state’s relative favorability based on its energy compared with available alternatives. It concerns reaction favorability, not how quickly a reaction happens.
Reaction kinetics: The study of the rates of chemical reactions and how those rates depend on conditions. It distinguishes reaction speed from a substance’s overall tendency to react.
Resonance (chemistry): A way to represent electron delocalization using multiple contributing Lewis structures. Electron delocalization can stabilize a molecule or reactive intermediate.

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