Beta Phase: Square45 is currently in beta testing. Expect some features or content to be incomplete or missing.
45

Catalyst Definition

A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the overall process.
📜

The statement of the theorem

Consider a general reaction Reactants→kuncatProducts\text{Reactants} \xrightarrow{k_{uncat}} \text{Products} and a catalyzed reaction Reactants→kcatProducts\text{Reactants} \xrightarrow{k_{cat}} \text{Products}. A substance Cat\text{Cat} acts as a catalyst if it provides an alternative reaction pathway such that the overall rate constant kcatk_{cat} satisfies the condition:\nkcat>kuncatk_{cat} > k_{uncat} \n\nFurthermore, the catalyst concentration [Cat][\text{Cat}] must satisfy the conservation law: Δ[Cat]overall=0\Delta[\text{Cat}]_{\text{overall}} = 0 over the reaction duration.