Rules for Addition Transformations
R. Alan Jones, J. F. Bunnett · IUPAC Standards Online · 2016
These rules provide a general system of nomenclature for transformations whereby one organic compound is converted into another. A transformation is distinct from a reaction in that it describes only those changes that are involved in converting the structure of a substrate into that of a product, regardless of the reagent or the precise nature of the substrate, or (with some exceptions) the mechanism. Thus all processes in which X–H is converted into X–NO2 are examples of the single transformation called “nitration”, whatever the nature of X, and irrespective of whether the reaction entails the replacement of H+ by NO2+, of H· by NO2,or of H-by NO2–.