Kinetics of the Hydrolysis of Esters in Neutral Medium

摘要

The neutral hydrolysis of alkyl formates has been studied over the range 20-70C. The reaction is found to be autocatalytic. The hydrogen ion produced in the reaction effects an increase in the rate of the reaction. A mini computer program in 'BASIC', for the calculation of the first-order rate constant and second-order rate constant by a method employing numerical integration and the criterion of least squares is given. Data is given for all the three esters studied to illustrate the method.