Title: competitive inhibition
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - competitive inhibition
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.C01200
Status: current

Definition
The reduction in rate due to reduction or loss of activity of a catalyst caused by adsorption of poison which is not greatly preferred to adsorption of reactant.

Related Terms
- adsorption: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00155
- catalyst: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C00876

Source
- PAC, 1976, 46, 71. 'Manual of Symbols and Terminology for Physicochemical Quantities and Units - Appendix II. Definitions, Terminology and Symbols in Colloid and Surface Chemistry. Part II: Heterogeneous Catalysis' on page 83 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197646010071)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01200/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01200/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01200/xml

Citation: Citation: 'competitive inhibition' 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.C01200
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: 2026-05-09T23:34:32+00:00