| displacement reaction | |
noun | |
| (chemistry) a reaction in which an elementary substance displaces and sets free a constituent element from a compound [syn: displacement] |
displacement reaction
any of a class of chemical reactions in which an atom, ion, or group of atoms or ions in a molecule is replaced by another atom, ion, or group. An example is the reaction in which the chlorine atom in the chloromethane molecule is displaced by the hydroxide ion, forming methanol:
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