[ngrave2]

I am reading a book on inorganic chemistry and I am stuck on a topic about rate laws. Essentially, one cannot determine the mechanism for activation (Associative or dissociative) simply from the rate law due to certain complications resulting from solvent effects, ion pair formation, and conjugate base formation. Further, one would always see a second order rate law for complexes that can undergo ion-pair formation. Why is this so?

[Babcock_Hall]

This question is above my pay grade.  The following reference might be useful as a starting point:
"IUPAC recommendations for the representation of reaction mechanisms," Robert D. Guthrie , William P. Jencks, Acc. Chem. Res., 1989, 22 (10), pp 343–349, DOI: 10.1021/ar00166a001