Magnetic Isotope Effect
Encyclopedia
Magnetic isotope effects arise when a chemical reaction involves spin-selective processes, such as the radical pair mechanism. The result is that some isotope
s react preferentially, depending on their nuclear spin quantum number I. This is in contrast to more familiar mass-dependent isotope effects
.
Isotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
s react preferentially, depending on their nuclear spin quantum number I. This is in contrast to more familiar mass-dependent isotope effects
Kinetic isotope effect
The kinetic isotope effect is the ratio of reaction rates of two different isotopically labeled molecules in a chemical reaction. It is also called "isotope fractionation," although this term is somewhat broader in meaning...
.