What is the rate determining step in the following energy profile? To clarify, the reaction is:
A -> B -> C
The energy of A is greater than B which in turn is also greater than C. The intermediate A-B is higher energy that the B-C intermediate but the energy gap between B and the intermediate B-C is greater than from A to the A-B intermediate. I hope this is clear.
Answer
The second step is rate-determining. According to Wikipedia:
Given a reaction coordinate (energy diagram), the rate determining step can be determined by taking the largest energy difference between any starting material or intermediate on the diagram and any transition state that comes after it. That transition state will then be the rate-determining step of a given reaction. The transition state with highest absolute energy may not necessarily correspond to the rate determining step.
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