Microwave chemistry in silicon carbide reaction vials: separating thermal from nonthermal effects.

tool for most organic chemists working in both academic and industrial laboratories. However, there is an ongoing debate in the scientific community on whether the observed dramatic accelerations of reaction rate are mainly a consequence of the high bulk temperatures attained in microwave chemistry, or whether there is a significant contribution of "nonthermal" effects (e.g. a decrease in transition state energies by direct molecule-field interactions not related to a macroscopic temperature-effect), or "specific " microwave effects (e.g. selective heating of catalyst particles).