Editing Autocatalysis (section)

{{short description|Chemical reaction whose product is also its catalyst}}

In [[chemistry]], a [[chemical reaction]] is said to be '''autocatalytic''' if one of the reaction [[Product (chemistry)|products]] is also a [[catalyst]] for the same reaction.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chemistry (IUPAC) |first=The International Union of Pure and Applied |title=IUPAC - autocatalytic reaction (A00525) |url=https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00525 |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=goldbook.iupac.org |language=en}}</ref> Many forms of autocatalysis are recognized.<ref name=ACIE/><ref name=Steinfeld>Steinfeld J.I., Francisco J.S. and Hase W.L. ''Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics'' (2nd ed., Prentice-Hall 1999) pp. 151–2  {{ISBN|0-13-737123-3}}</ref>

A ''set'' of chemical reactions can be said to be "collectively autocatalytic" if a number of those reactions produce, as reaction products, catalysts for enough of the other reactions that the entire set of chemical reactions is self-sustaining given an input of energy and food molecules (see [[autocatalytic set]]).