Combinatorial Classification of Chemical Mechanisms

This paper provides an algebraic solution for the problem of determining explicitly every possible steady-state mechanism in a suitably described chemical system. Each possible type of mechanism is characterized by a convex subset of a finite-dimensional vector space. Among these subsets the bounded ones characterize all cycle-free mechanisms, and those which consist of isolated points characterize all direct mechanisms [as defined in P. C. Miler, J. Electrochem. Soc., III (1964), pp. 228–232]. It is shown that each type of mechanism reduces to a unique combination of direct mechanisms.