Introduction

Abstract

The term reaction mechanism refers to the specific sequence of elementary reactions leading to an overall chemical change. Inorganic chemistry has always lagged behind organic chemistry in determination of reaction mechanisms. The first ideas of the mechanisms of organic reactions started to develop around 1920. The mechanistic considerations of organic reactions in solutions were primarily applied to the reactions of tetrahedral and trigonal planar carbon atoms. This is because organic compounds often undergo reactions at one center, while the other bonds suffer minor changes or practically do not change at all. Organic reactions are very versatile. Their rates can be easily varied by changing the reaction conditions in order to get rates that can be followed by conventional kinetic techniques available at the time.