This text considers the role of rate of reaction. It begins by introducing chemical kinetics and the analysis of reaction mechanism, from basic well-established concepts to leading edge research. Organic reaction mechanisms are then discussed, encompassing curly arrows, nucleophilic substitution and E1 and E2 elimination reactions. The book concludes with a case study on Zeolites, which examines their structure and internal dimensions in relation to their behaviour as molecular sieves and catalysts. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the Kinetics Toolkit , a graph-plotting application designed for manipulation and analysis of kinetic data, which is built into many of the examples, questions and exercises in the text. There are also interactive activities illustrating reaction mechanisms.