Rearrangementia

Rearrangementia is a theoretical framework used to describe and analyze structural rearrangements within complex systems, focusing on the pathways, energetics, and kinetics that connect distinct configurations. While the term is most often encountered in speculative or theoretical discussions, it is sometimes introduced in chemistry, materials science, and network theory to unify a broad class of rearrangement phenomena where the system reorganizes its connectivity rather than undergoing simple addition or removal of constituents.

In chemistry, rearrangementia encompasses classic rearrangement processes such as sigmatropic shifts, Claisen and Cope rearrangements, ring-closures and ring-openings, as well as more complex, concerted skeletal reorganizations. In condensed matter and materials science, it covers topology changes in networks and polymers, nanoscale reconfigurations in clusters, and defect-driven reorganizations in crystalline or amorphous solids. In graph-theoretic contexts, it describes sequences of edge or node rewirings that transform a configuration into a target state under defined rules.

The term has no single canonical definition and is used variably; it is more common in pedagogical or speculative literature than in standard reference works. Critics note that the breadth of its scope can obscure precise mechanism without sub-discipline specification.

Rearrangementia informs modeling of reaction networks, design of responsive materials, and theoretical studies of structural dynamics. Ongoing work seeks to formalize its terminology, develop metrics for rearrangement pathways, and integrate computational approaches with experimental observations.