A chemical reaction in which one of the products acts as a catalyst, speeding up the reaction itself as it produces more product.
From auto- (self) + catalysis (from Greek kata-, down, + lysis, loosening). The term describes how a reaction can bootstrap itself into faster action.
Autocatalysis might explain how life got started—once the first self-replicating molecules formed, they'd accelerate their own production, creating a runaway process!
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