How do you determine if a chemical reaction is undergoing thermodynamic or kinetic control?
You will need to do some experimenting with the following in mind. When a reaction is under kinetic control, the ratio of the two products is determined by the relative energies of the highest energy transition states leading to these products. The relative stabilities of the products are irrelevant. When a reaction is under themodynamic control, the ratio of the products is solely determined by the relative energies of the products. How do you know which? Isolate the product and subject it to the initial reaction conditions and see if you get some percentage of original reactant back.
