Transferability (chemistry)

This article is about transferability in chemistry. For the concept in economic theory, see Transferability (economics).

In chemistry, transferability is the assumption that a chemical property that is associated with an atom or a functional group in a molecule will have a similar (but not identical) value in a variety of different circumstances.^[1] Examples of transferable properties include:

• Electronegativity
• Nucleophilicity
• Chemical shifts in NMR spectroscopy
• Characteristic frequencies in Infrared spectroscopy
• Bond length and bond angle
• Bond energy

Transferable properties are distinguished from conserved properties, which are assumed to always have the same value whatever the chemical situation, e.g. standard atomic weight.

References

1. "Transferability". Compendium of Chemical Terminology.