The behaviour of a simple chemical reaction, occurring with the release of heat in a closed batch reactor, is considered for the situation when matter and heat are transported only by diffusive processes; thus, the reacting fluid has negligible velocity, so that heat transfer is by thermal conduction. The reaction is Sal'nikov's, which consists of two, consecutive first-order steps, producing a product B, from a precursor P, via an active intermediate A, in P→A→B. The first of these steps is assumed to be thermoneutral, with zero activation energy, whilst the second is exothermic, with an appreciable activation energy. These features make Sal'nikov's reaction the simplest to display thermokinetic