Molecular entity

Short description: Any type of particle that can undergo a chemical process

In chemistry and physics, a molecular entity, or chemical entity, is "any constitutionally or isotopically distinct atom, molecule, ion, ion pair, radical, radical ion, complex, conformer, etc., identifiable as a separately distinguishable entity".[1] A molecular entity is any singular entity, irrespective of its nature, used to concisely express any type of chemical particle that can exemplify some process: for example, atoms, molecules, ions, etc. can all undergo a chemical reaction.[citation needed]

Chemical species is the macroscopic equivalent of molecular entity and refers to sets or ensembles of molecular entities.[citation needed]

According to IUPAC, "The degree of precision necessary to describe a molecular entity depends on the context. For example 'hydrogen molecule' is an adequate definition of a certain molecular entity for some purposes, whereas for others it is necessary to distinguish the electronic state and/or vibrational state and/or nuclear spin, etc. of the hydrogen molecule."[citation needed]

## See also

* Amount of substance \- a quantity proportional to the number of entities in a substance
* Mole (unit) \- an aggregate of entities given by the Avogadro number
* New chemical entity
* Chemical Entities of Biological Interest
* Particle

## References

1. ↑ IUPAC, Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book") (1997). Online corrected version:  (2006-) "molecular entity". doi:10.1351/goldbook.M03986

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