Class Summary 12/06/04
12/06 Pechukas
Symmetry Groups
The concept that a transition state is dependant upon the symmetries of both the reactants and products was put forth. Schaad (based upon Pechukas’ work, 1976) developed a table that could be used to predict the point group of a transition state based upon the point groups of the reactants and products. Also, if the reaction is a degenerate rearrangement, the transition state has more symmetry possibilities available (Schaad, 1998).
RELEVANT REFERENCES
Pechukas, P. On simple saddle points of a potential surface, the conservation of nuclear symmetry along paths of steepest descent, and the symmetry of transition states J. Chem. Phys. (1976) 64, 1515-1521.
Schaad, L.J and Hu, J. Symmetry Rules for Transition Structures in Degenerate Reactions J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1998) 120, 1571-1580.