The role of turbulence in the combustion systems of flame propagation and diffusion combustion is to mix burned region with unburned region to promote combustion. Meanwhile homogeneous charged compression ignition (HCCI) is a combustion system which goes through the chemical reaction in overall field. It makes no rigid distinction between unburned region and burned region, and differs from the systems of flame propagation and diffusion combustion. Therefore, the role of turbulence in HCCI differs from other combustion systems. Three-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) of auto-ignition process of n-heptane/air mixture was performed to analyze the interaction between chemical reaction and turbulence. In conclusions, the progress of chemical reaction delays under the area where rotation dominants in comparion with the area where distortion dominants under higher temperature region. Turbulence makes complicated structure of heat release which includes sheet and coherent structures. ©2013 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.