Title: substrate
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - substrate
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.S06082
Status: current

Definition
A chemical species, the reaction of which with some other chemical reagent is under observation (e.g. a compound that is transformed under the influence of a catalyst). The term should be used with care. Either the context or a specific statement should always make it clear which chemical species in a reaction is regarded as the substrate.

Related Terms
- catalyst: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00876
- chemical species: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/CT01038
- reagent: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05190
- transformation: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/T06446

Sources
- PAC, 1993, 65, 2291. 'Nomenclature of kinetic methods of analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 1993)' on page 2298 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199365102291)
- PAC, 1994, 66, 1077. 'Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994)' on page 1169 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199466051077)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S06082/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S06082/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S06082/xml

Citation: Citation: 'substrate' 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.S06082
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: 2026-04-27T16:23:16+00:00