Empiricism or self-consistent theory in chemical kinetics?

To give theoretical background for mechanochemical kinetics, we need first of all to find a possibility to predict the kinetic parameters for real chemical processes by determining rate constants and reaction orders without developing strictly specialized and, to a great extent, artificial models, i.e. to derive the kinetic law of mass action from "first principles". However, the kinetic law of mass action has had only an empirical basis from the first experiments of Gulberg and Waage until now, in contrast to the classical law of mass action for chemical equilibrium rigorously derived in chemical thermodynamics from equilibrium condition. Nevertheless, in this paper, an attempt to derive the kinetic law of mass action from "first principles" is made in macroscopic formulation. It has turned out to be possible owing to the methods of thermodynamics of irreversible processes that were unknown in Gulberg and Waage's time. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.