approached. It is claimed that the knowledge of absolute rate constants and not of the hardness of the reaction partners is needed to predict the outcome of alkylations of the cyanide ion. Criticism Reanalysis of a large number of various most typical ambident organic system reveals that thermodynamic/kinetic control describes reactivity of organic compounds perfectly, whereas the HSAB principle fails and should be abandoned in the rationalization of ambident reactivity of organic compounds. See also Acid-base reaction Oxophilicity References Acid–base chemistry Inorganic chemistry