Response to: "C-H activation by platinum(II): What do gas-phase studies tell us about the solution-phase mechanism?"

The gas-phase analysis on the solution-phase mechanism was investigated. The direct experimental test of the involvement of the TFE in the rate-determining transition measured the kinetic order of the C-H activation. TFE was not bound by the rate-determining transition state in the gas-phase was an attempt by the experiment to run the microscopic reverse of the reaction. The ligand binding energies of Pt(II) complexes, DFT computations found that unimolecular loss of CH3CN, H2O, or TFE from the four coordinated complexes produced a four coordinated product.