A reaction step of a

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

is defined as: ''"An

elementary reaction An elementary reaction is a chemical reaction in which one or more chemical species react directly to form products in a single reaction step and with a single transition state. In practice, a reaction is assumed to be elementary if no reaction in ...

, constituting one of the stages of a

stepwise reaction In chemistry, a stepwise reaction (also called an overall reaction, complex reaction, and multistep reaction, among others) is a chemical reaction with one or more reaction intermediates, which by definition involves at least two consecutive eleme ...

in which a

reaction intermediate In chemistry, a reaction intermediate or an intermediate is a molecular entity that is formed from the reactants (or preceding intermediates) but is consumed in further reactions in stepwise chemical reactions that contain multiple elementary st ...

(or, for the first step, the reactants) is converted into the next

(or, for the last step, the

products Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Produ ...

) in the sequence of intermediates between reactants and products"''."Definition of reaction step"
–

IUPAC The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

Gold Book The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry publishes many books which contain its complete list of definitions. The definitions are divided into seven "colour books": Gold, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange, White, and Red. There is also an e ...

To put it simply, it is an elementary reaction which goes from one reaction intermediate to another or to the final product.

Notes

Chemical kinetics {{physical-chemistry-stub