Five mechanistic models of mixing and chemical reaction having an analogy with isotropic turbulent mixing are evaluated. The turbulence analogies, based on matching variance decay laws of models and turbulence theory, provide a physical basis for the models and a means of estimating their micromixing parameters apriori. Experimental data for single second order liquid phase reactions provide strong support for the analogies. However, it is demonstrated that in spite of their success for single reactions, the models may predict grossly different selectivities in the case of competing reactions in a plug flow reactor. This emphasizes the importance of certain structural features of the models which are independent of the existence of a turbulence analogy, such as: (i) reacting regions which are rich in each of the reactants of a two feedstream reactor, and (ii) unmixed regions in the reaction mixture. The importance of obtaining data for competing reactions in a highly segregated plug flow reactor for the purpose of model discrimination is made apparent.