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In chemistry, a reaction coordinate is an abstract one-dimensional coordinate system which represents progress along a reaction pathway. These coordinates can sometimes represent a real coordinate system, although, for more complex reactions especially, this can be difficult. Reaction coordinates are often plotted against free energy to demonstrate in some schematic form the free energy surface associated to the reaction. For this reason, reaction coordinates usually represent continuous pathways whose endpoints are locally minimal in terms of free energy. Local maxima correspond to transition states They are determining the reaction rate within the RRKM theory. For example, in the homolytic dissociation of hydrogen, an apt coordinate system to choose would be the coordinate corresponding to the interatomic distance.
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