A reaction inhibitor is a substance

Chemical substance

In chemistry, a chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical separation methods, i.e. without breaking chemical bonds. They can be solids, liquids or gases.Chemical substances are...

 that decreases the rate of, or prevents, a chemical reaction

Chemical reaction

A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...

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Inhibition of a catalyst

An inhibitor can reduce the effectiveness of a catalyst in a catalysed reaction (either a non-biological catalyst or an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

). E.g., if a compound is so similar to (one of) the reactants that it can bind to the active site of a catalyst but does not undergo a catalytic reaction then that catalyst molecule cannot perform its job because the active site is occupied. When the inhibitor is released, the catalyst is again available for reaction.

Inhibition and catalyst poisoning

Inhibition should be distinguished from catalyst poisoning. An inhibitor only hinders the working of a catalyst, whilst in catalyst poisoning the catalyst is destroyed by an irreversible reaction with a chemical substance (the active catalyst in the latter case may be regained by a separate process).