Topic summary
Stereospecific
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Stereospecificity.
The term stereospecific reaction is ambiguous, since the term reaction itself can mean a single-mechanism transformation (such as the Diels–Alder reaction), which could be stereospecific, or the outcome of a reactant mixture that may proceed through multiple competing mechanisms, specific and non-specific. In the latter sense, the term stereospecific reaction is commonly misused to mean highly stereoselective reaction.