An electrostatic scale of substituent resonance effect

Substituent resonance constant, σ R v is calculated from substituted benzenes using molecular electrostatic potential (MESP). The reliability of σ R v is rigorously verified using isodesmic reactions and found that the energy component of substituent resonance effect is proportional to σ R v . Thus the MESP approach enabled the definition to an electrostatic scale of substituent resonance effect.