Encyclopedia of Science

[acidamine]

Good Morning,

We've been studying a reaction in combination with a catalyst that seems to have some very odd properties.

The one that is most puzzling is that the reaction rate seems to increase as we drop the temperature.

Does anyone know of any reactions that might be Thermodynamically or Kinetically favored by a drop in temperature?

I've never heard of such a thing and could not find a reference to anything similar.

Thanks!

[dbsf]

For catalytic processes the reaction energy path controls the speed of the reaction. In other words, the molecules follow the path of least resistance but that path may still require a lot of energy. The reaction energy for the path may be high and therefor the reaction may proceed slowly.

A reaction pathway can be altered by adding nonreacting compounds (a catalyst) to the reaction mixture. These molecules can sometimes alter the pathway so the energy needed for reaction is lowered. When this happens the reaction rates are faster.
The overall equilibrium of the reaction<>reagent is therefor lowered resulting in an overall lower temperature.

So the other way to consider this is that the lowering of the temperature can therefor help the catalyst increase the rate of reaction