ABSTRACT
An important application of kinetic information is the investigation and, as a goal, ultimate determination of valid reaction mechanisms. A knowledge of how a reaction proceeds is critical to understanding and/or predicting the role of a chemical process in, for example, synthesis, biological systems, or the environment. Reaction mechanisms may be composed of only a single step. However, in a complete multi-step reaction, one of the steps is very often much slower than the rest of the steps. The slowest chemical step in a complete multi-step mechanism is termed the rate determining step. The rate expression for a complete reaction can be predicted based on information about specific steps in the suggested reaction mechanism. A complete rate expression is derived from individual rate expressions for appropriate elementary steps. A catalyst is an agent that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being net consumed in the reaction. The catalyst may act without undergoing observable change in chemical form.
