For the first time, a detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanism is developed for primary reference fuel mixtures of n-hexadecane and 2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethyl nonane for diesel cetane ratings. The mechanisms are constructed using existing rules for reaction pathways and rate expressions developed previously for the primary reference fuels for gasoline octane ratings, n-heptane and iso-octane. These reaction mechanisms are validated by comparisons between computed and experimental results for shock tube ignition and for oxidation under jet-stirred reactor conditions. The combined kinetic reaction mechanism contains the submechanisms for the primary reference fuels for diesel cetane ratings and submechanisms for the primary reference fuels for gasoline octane ratings, all in one integrated large kinetic reaction mechanism. Representative applications of this mechanism to two test problems are presented, one describing fuel/air autoignition variations with changes in fuel cetane numbers, and the other describing fuel combustion in a jet-stirred reactor environment with the fuel varying from pure 2,2,4,4,6,8,8-heptamethyl nonane (Cetane number of 15) to pure n-hexadecane (Cetane number of 100). The final reaction mechanism for the primary reference fuels for diesel fuel and gasoline is available on the web.