Why Study Mechanisms

There are a number of reasons, not mutually exclusive, which may be listed by the type of person most affected  

Chemists Involved in Synthesis. Mechanistic knowledge allows intelligent variation of reaction conditions, temperatures and proportions of reagents to maximize yields of pure products. 

Industrial Chemists. Mechanistic knowledge allows the prediction of new reagents and reaction conditions which may affect desired transformations. It also allows optimization of yields, cutting down on raw materials costs and waste material which may be expensive to dispose of. For example, Augmentin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, with sales of over 2 billion in 2001. If, say, 5% of the costs are in raw materials, a 1 % improvement in reaction yield would save GSK at least a million dollars per annum. 

Biochemists, and Those Involved in Medical Research. The reactions involved in metabolism in living organisms are organic, and many are understood in some detail. The establishment of mechanism is of vital importance in understanding how diseases affect metabolism, how drug molecules can assist or prevent particular biochemical reactions, and in the development of new drugs. 

In an elementary reaction, there are no intermediates. Reagents are converted into products via a transition state in a single step. 

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