3: Understanding Mechanism
- Page ID
- 190023
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- 3.1: Intermediates
- First and foremeost, a mechanism is a sequence of intermediates. What happens to the structure of the compound as it undergoes chemical change? Does that change happen all at once, or does it happen in stages? If it happens in stages, what kinds of intermediates are involved? Let's review some different kinds of reactive intermediates that may occur along a reaction pathway. These intermediates are not particularly stable, and so they go on to react further until they form more stable products.