Timeline for Help understanding how "steric effects" are distinct from "electronic effects"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 13, 2021 at 12:48 | vote | accept | uhoh | ||
| S Feb 17, 2021 at 17:16 | history | became hot network question | |||
| S Feb 17, 2021 at 17:16 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Feb 17, 2021 at 15:18 | comment | added | orthocresol | @uhoh Yes, in that one could be said to represent a "deeper" layer of analysis than the other, but I'm hesitant to draw any more parallels beyond that. Resonance (an electronic effect) is definitely a QM thing, but the inductive effect (also electronic) doesn't necessarily need QM to be explained, it just needs the basic concept of electronegativity, which can kind of be boiled down to just Coulombic attraction. Though it might be getting a bit philosophical here. :-) I think Matt's answer is clearer than my original comment. | |
| Feb 17, 2021 at 13:19 | answer | added | Nat | timeline score: 3 | |
| Feb 17, 2021 at 11:16 | answer | added | matt_black | timeline score: 17 | |
| Feb 17, 2021 at 10:13 | comment | added | Alchimista | If you wish stearic effects are electronic effects themselves, this also somewhat answers you question. | |
| Feb 17, 2021 at 10:11 | comment | added | Alchimista | I wanted to say what I see what orthocresol already said. You may find the same situation in many case when a general principle or cause is underlying. The same happens when energy of a molecule is decompose in terms of bond length, angle, substituents, etc. This leads to a function that is certainly not analytic, as for all terms are in reality variously interconnected. It makes much sense anyway. Take conformers of CH2X-CH2X, as a simple example. It is another case in which we can consider a term as a function of the angle. | |
| Feb 17, 2021 at 9:53 | comment | added | uhoh | @orthocresol that actually explains it (to me at least) quite well. Something like the difference between classical Coulomb force analysis and a proper quantum mechanical treatment perhaps? | |
| Feb 17, 2021 at 9:39 | comment | added | orthocresol | I’ve not the time for a proper answer any time soon. But yes, the waters are slightly murky here: steric effects are because of electrons so fundamentally are also “electronic” effects. One way of phrasing the difference is that steric effects can be fully explained simply by the position of each atom and the repulsion between their associated electron clouds (hence can be explained with molecular models), but electronic effects are more subtle in that they not only depend on atomic positions but also the exact distribution of electron density between different atoms (i.e. orbitals). | |
| Feb 17, 2021 at 9:13 | history | asked | uhoh | CC BY-SA 4.0 |