Reactivity in chemistry: the propensity view

  1. Suárez, Mauricio
  2. Sánchez Gómez, Pedro J.
Revista:
Foundations of Chemistry

ISSN: 1386-4238,  1572-8463

Año de publicación: 2023

Volumen: 25

Número: 3

Páginas: 369-380

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1007/S10698-023-09477-8 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Foundations of Chemistry

Resumen

We argue for an account of chemical reactivities as chancy propensities, in accordance with the ‘complex nexus of chance’ defended by one of us in the past. Reactivities are typically quantified as proportions, and an expression such as “A + B → C” does not entail that under the right conditions some given amounts of A and B react to give the mass of C that theoretically corresponds to the stoichiometry of the reaction. Instead, what is produced is a fraction α < 1 of this theoretical amount, and the corresponding percentage is usually known as the yield, which expresses the relative preponderance of its reaction. This is then routinely tested in a laboratory against the observed actual yields for the different reactions. Thus, on our account, reactivities ambiguously refer to three quantities at once. They first refer to the underlying propensities effectively acting in the reaction mechanisms, which in ‘chemical chemistry’ (Schummer in Hyle 4:129–162, 1998) are commonly represented by means of Lewis structures. Besides, reactivities represent the probabilities that these propensities give rise to, for any amount of the reactants to combine as prescribed. This last notion is hence best understood as a single case chance and corresponds to a theoretical stoichiometric yield. Finally, reactivities represent the actual yields observed in experimental runs, which account for and provide the requisite evidence for/against both the mechanisms and single case chances ascribed.

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