The potential energy stored in the reactants of a chemical reaction is called chemical energy or chemical potential energy. It's released during a chemical reaction. Energy is absorbed when chemical bonds are broken and released when new chemical bonds are formed in the product molecules.
It's somewhat of a simplification to say that energy is stored in the bonds of the reactant molecules. There's a net release of energy by a chemical reaction if the forming of new bonds releases more energy than that absorbed to break the bonds in the reactant molecules. This is called an exothermic reaction. In this case the products have less energy than the reactants.
An endothermic reaction occurs when the enegy absorbed in breaking bonds is greater than the energy released when new bonds form, resulting in a net absorption of energy. The products have more energy than the reactants.
Chemical potential energy can be thought of as the difference between the energy states of the products and the reactants.
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