Abstract
A general approach to the study of complex reacting systems, including first-order reactions, is considered. The method consists in the identification of the disposition of the characteristic vectors of the kinetic matrix for a linear system and their eigenvalues. Linear reaction pathways in the composition space correspond to non-equilibrium characteristic vectors. For an experimental determination of the kinetic constants in a complex system, it is sufficient to find all the linear reaction pathways.
The bibliography includes 56 references.