When generated in a chemical reaction, it will quickly convert into a more stable molecule.
When their existence is indicated, reactive intermediates can help explain how a chemical reaction takes place.
[1][2][3][4] Most chemical reactions take more than one elementary step to complete, and a reactive intermediate is a high-energy, hence unstable, product that exists only in one of the intermediate steps.
When a reactive intermediate is not observable, its existence must be inferred through experimentation.
Reactive intermediates based on carbon are radicals, carbenes, carbocations, carbanions, arynes, and carbynes.