ABSTRACT
Reactivity Descriptors ............................................................................ 389 26.14 Solvent Effect on Electronegativity, Hardness, and Softness ............... 389 26.15 Solvent Effect on Electrophilicity.......................................................... 390 26.16 Solvent Effect on Local Descriptors...................................................... 391 26.17 Summary ................................................................................................ 391 Acknowledgments................................................................................................. 392 References ............................................................................................................. 392
It is well known that the surrounding solvent environment plays a crucial role in a chemical reaction. For example, the formation of tetraethylammonium iodide has been studied in many nonpolar and polar solvents. It is found that the rate of the reaction is quite sensitive to the solvent. From the least polar (hexane) to the most polar (nitrobenzene) solvent, the rate constant increases by 2700 times [1]. The polar transition state of this reaction is stabilized in a high dielectric constant medium. Since the
solvent effect is environmental, its dielectric constant, dipole moment, viscosity, size, etc. may affect the rate of a reaction.
