Chemical Reactions, Their Theory and Mechanism (Classic Reprint)

The central idea of this book is the development of a general theory of reactions which will include both inorganic and organic reactions. The fundamental view upon which this theory is based is the addition theory according to which when two or more substances react a primary addition is the first step. This theory is not new. It has been used in more or less isolated cases for a number of reactions and may have been suggested as of general applicability. As far as the writer is aware, however, this is the first time that it is published in an extended form with modern conceptions of chemical structures, which themselves rest upon the development of valence views. The modern interest in valence appears to have started in 1899 when Thiele published his paper on partial valence. Some years later, 1904, J. J. Thomson suggested the basic ideas of the electron conception of valence, but applied these to very few cases. From that time on, the electron conception of valence occupied the minds of a number of chemists who attempted its application as shown in sporadic publications. Professor Nelson and the writer believe that they were the first, dating from 1909 on, to publish extended applications of the electron conception of valence to organic as well as to inorganic compounds and reactions, and to develop certain lines of chemical theory from this point of view. In the development of these views, they travelled over a certain course of chemical thinking. Unquestionably, others have followed the same or similar lines of thought and reached similar conclusions. A mong those who have pul)lishcd along these lines may be mentioned II. S. Fry, W. A. Noyes, J. Stieglitz, L. Jones, G. N.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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