According to the Hammond postulate, how does the transition state of a reaction relate to the energy of reactants and products?
According to the Hammond postulate, the transition state of a reaction will resemble the species (reactants or products) that has the highest energy on the free energy diagram. If the transition state is closer in energy to the reactants, it will look more like the reactants (early transition state); if it is closer to the products, it will look more like the products (late transition state).