| Introduction |
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| To the uninitiated,
a chemical reaction must seem like an act of
magic. A chemist puts one or two reagents into
a flask, warms them for a period of time, and
then takes from the flask one or more completely
different compounds. It is, until we understand
the details of the reaction, like a magician
who puts apples and oranges in a hat, shakes
it, and then pulls out rabbits and parrots.
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Now we'll try to understand how this chemical
magic takes place. We need to be able to explain
how the products of the reaction are formed.
This explanation will take the form of a mechanism
for the reaction–a description of the events
that take place on a molecular level as reactants
become products. Often the reaction takes place
in more than one step. We will know what chemical
species, called intermediates, intervene between
each step along the way. |
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