Title: proton transfer reaction
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - proton transfer reaction
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.P04915
Status: current

Definition
A chemical reaction, the main feature of which is the intermolecular or intramolecular transfer of a proton (hydron) from one binding site to another. For example:  In the detailed description of proton transfer reactions, especially of rapid proton transfers between electronegative atoms, it should always be specified whether the term is used to refer to the overall process (including the more-or-less encounter-controlled formation of a hydrogen bonded complex and the separation of the products; see microscopic diffusion control) or just to the proton transfer event (including solvent rearrangement) by itself.

Related Terms
- autoprotolysis: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/A00531
- binding site: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/B00649
- chemical reaction: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01033
- encounter-controlled: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/E02089
- hydron: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/H02904
- intermolecular: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/I03098
- intramolecular: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/I03130
- microscopic diffusion control: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/M03912
- proton: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04906
- rearrangement: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05194
- tautomerism: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/T06252

Source
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1077. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1153 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466051077)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04915/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04915/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04915/xml

Citation: Citation: 'proton transfer reaction' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.P04915
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-27T16:23:05+00:00