An addition reaction joins reacting molecular entities while reducing bond multiplicity and retaining their atoms in the combined product. For example, adding hydrogen across an alkene's carbon–carbon double chemical bond produces a saturated product. The reverse transformation is an elimination reaction.[ref]
IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, fifth edition (Gold Book). Addition reaction, entry A00133
The net transformation does not uniquely specify the mechanism. Electrophilic, radical and concerted routes can give addition products with different rate laws and stereochemistry. Tracking both the atoms and the changing bond order separates an addition reaction from a replacement or rearrangement.
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