An addition reaction, in chemistry, is in its simplest terms a organic reaction where two or more molecules combine to form a larger one.
There are two main types of polar addition reactions:
Other non-polar addition reactions exists as well:
Addition reactions are limited to chemical compounds that have multiply-bonded atoms:
An addition reaction is the opposite of an elimination reaction. For instance the hydration reaction of an alkene and the dehydration of an alcohol are a addition-elimination pair.
See also
Application of addition reactions in addition polymerization.