Bond cleavage, or scission, is the splitting of chemical bonds.
If the two electrons in a cleaved covalent bond are divided between the products, the process is known as homolytic fission or homolysis. Alternatively, the case where both electrons are retained by one product is known as heterolytic fission (heterolysis). The term "bond dissociation energy" refers to the energy required to cleave a bond (typically homolytically).
In biochemistry the process of breaking down large molecules (by splitting their internal bonds) is catabolism. Enzymes which catalyse bond cleavage are known as lyases, unless they operate by hydrolysis or oxidation/reduction, in which case they are known as hydrolases and oxidoreductases respectively.
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