"activate a reaction" is correct and usable in written English
It is usually used to refer to something that causes a reaction, such as a stimulus or action. For example, "The audience was excited when the lights came on, activating a reaction of cheers and applause."
Warhol and his assistants coated canvases with metallic paints and pissed on them to activate a chemical reaction.
Manufacturers say their lamps activate a chemical reaction in the bleaching gel and also break down stain molecules, speeding the whitening.
This study investigated the potential use of natural loess to activate a geopolymerization reaction, and also to identify the efficient fly ash ratios that is to be combined with loess for the development of a new geopolymer material.
The Domino Effect states that when you make a change to one behavior it will activate a chain reaction and cause a shift in related behaviors as well.
These particles activate an electroless reaction induced by a reducer, hydrazine or hydroxide, which gives rise to deposition of a film with ZnO and ZnSe composition.
The surface of an implant may activate an inflammatory reaction leading to the formation of the SC5b-9 complex.
The metabolites carried in by transport reactions could activate a series metabolic reactions in human liver cells, leading to changes in the state of liver metabolism.
The metabolites carried in by transport reactions could activate a series metabolic reactions in human liver cells, which could change the state of the liver metabolism and influence the controllability of the HLMN.
In these reactions, also called delayed-type because they arise in a matter of days rather than minutes or hours, T cells either activate a local inflammatory reaction, which can cause extensive tissue damage, or they kill tissue cells directly.
NLRs are cytoplasmic receptors that directly or indirectly recognize effectors and activate a strong defense reaction known as effector-triggered immunity (Jones and Dangl 2006; Bozkurt et al. 2012).
