addition reaction

noun

: a chemical reaction that results in a single product

To try and explain what happens during these diamond reactions, Doren and Danesha Fitzgerald have used computational chemistry to model the way the molecules interact with the diamond surface. They have shown that the addition reactions work because pairs of carbon atoms on the naked surface of the diamond act as if they are themselves individual molecules.

—David Bradley, The Guardian (London), 30 Nov. 2000

Note: The product of an addition reaction is called an addition compound.

Word History

First Known Use

1893, in the meaning defined above

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