Equilibria in Biphasic Reactions

Clearly, an increase in [/ ] is possible by decreasing [5]. This can be accomplished by combining various types of separation with reaction, including using a second liquid phase (extractive reaction) or a zeolite. The latter was briefly mentioned in Chapter 6, and the former will comprise the contents of Chapter 25. 

The basis of the treatment discussed here is (1) postulation of an apparent or effective equilibrium constant for the reaction that occurs simultaneously and interactively in both phases and (2) finding a relationship between this and the true equilibrium constants in the individual phases. Such an approach (Martinek et al., 1977, 1980, 1981a,b Martinek and Semenov, 1981a,b Semenov et al.. 

1987) should prove highly useful in preevaluating the effectiveness of biphasing with different solvents. 

Ionization of reactants will obviously have an important bearing on the performance of a biphasic reaction. Thus, after first considering the effect of biphasing with nonionizing reactants, we extend the treatment to include the influence of ionization. 

First we analyze a simple unimolecular reaction and then the more important bimolecular scheme. 

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