Thermodynamics of thermal methods for rapid screening of combinatorial libraries

General equations are developed relating the dependence of temperature on time for a closed system undergoing chemical reaction. Equations are reported for thermally insulated systems and for systems where Newton's law of cooling describes the exchange of thermal energy between system and surroundings. These equations provide the basis for analysing and modelling thermal methods for screening combinatorial libraries. Key equations describe the impact of chemical reactions having different orders and molecularities. The potential of resulting differential equations is illustrated using numerical integration to yield temperature time plots which highlight the roles of rate constants and enthalpies of reactions.