1. Preamble

There are three fundamental aspects to a complete description of a chemical reaction: thermodynamics, kinetics and mechanism. The thermodynamic aspect deals with the energy acquired or delivered by the system, from reactants to products. The kinetics of a chemical reaction involves the time it takes for the system to complete the reaction, while the mechanism considers the intrinsic capacity of the reactants to promote the specific interactions that govern the process. The concept of intrinsic reactivity thus emerges as the ability of the isolated system, atoms, molecules and molecular aggregates to react with chemical partners to give rise to new chemical products ....