# The Exploration of Chemical Reaction Networks

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the advancements in automated computational methods for exploring chemical reaction networks, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive atomistic kinetic models in modern chemistry.

## Contribution

It categorizes the challenges and components of automated exploration tools, providing a framework for comparing current and future approaches.

## Key findings

- Automated exploration can replace manual chemical mechanism studies.
- Various algorithms aim to produce complete atomistic kinetic models.
- The paper provides a conceptual framework for comparing exploration methods.

## Abstract

Modern computational chemistry has reached a stage at which massive exploration into chemical reaction space with unprecedented resolution with respect to the number of potentially relevant molecular structures has become possible. Various algorithmic advances have shown that such structural screenings must and can be automated and routinely carried out. This will replace the standard approach of manually studying a selected and restricted number of molecular structures for a chemical mechanism. The complexity of the task has led to many different approaches. However, all of them address the same general target, namely to produce a complete atomistic picture of the kinetics of a chemical process. It is the purpose of this overview to categorize the problems that are to be targeted and to identify the principle components and challenges of automated exploration machines so that the various existing approaches and future developments can be compared based on well-defined conceptual principles.