The activated complex in a reaction is
- A. a stable intermediate that can be isolated
- B. the same as the catalyst
- C. the product of the reaction
- D. a short lived arrangement at the top of the energy barrier in which bonds are partly broken and partly formed
Explanation
At the transition state old bonds are stretched and new ones are only beginning to form, so the species exists for the duration of a molecular vibration and cannot be isolated. A genuine reaction intermediate, by contrast, sits in an energy well and may sometimes be detected. The activated complex may collapse either forwards to products or backwards to reactants.