Benson group increment theory
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Benson group-increment theory (BGIT), group-increment theory, or Benson group additivity uses the experimentally calculated heat of formation for individual groups of atoms to calculate the entire heat of formation for a molecule under investigation. This can be a quick and convenient way to determine theoretical heats of formation without conducting tedious experiments. The technique was developed by professor Sidney William Benson[1] of the University of Southern California. It is further described in Heat of formation group additivity.
Heats of formations are intimately related to bond-dissociation energies and thus are important in understanding chemical structure and reactivity.[2] Furthermore, although the theory is old, it still is practically useful as one of the best group-contribution methods aside from computational methods such as molecular mechanics. However, the BGIT has its limitations, and thus cannot always predict the precise heat of formation.