Stochastic Approach to First-Order Chemical Reaction Kinetics

Abstract

A stochastic model for the general system of first‐order chemical reactions involving n chemical species is derived, from which the multinomial distribution is shown to represent the probability time course of the components of the reaction. The mean and variances of the numbers of molecules of the components present, at any time, are given and the correspondence between the stochastic model and the classical deterministic model is discussed.