Ethanol ionization effect

As a result of the inductive and hyperconjugative effects it is to be expected that tertiary carbonium ions will be more stable than secondary carbonium ions, which in turn will be more stable than primary ions. The stabilization of the corresponding transition states for ionization should be in the same order, since the transition state will somewhat resemble the ion. Thus the first order rate constant for the solvolysis of tert-buty bromide in alkaline 80% aqueous ethanol at 55° is about 4000 times that of isopropyl bromide, while for ethyl and methyl bromides the first order contribution to the hydrolysis rate is imperceptible against the contribution from the bimolecular hydrolysis.217 Formic acid is such a good ionizing solvent that even primary alkyl bromides hydrolyze at a rate nearly independent of water concentration. The relative rates at 100° are tertiary butyl, 108 isopropyl, 44.7 ethyl, 1.71 and methyl, 1.00.218>212 One a-phenyl substituent is about as effective in accelerating the ionization as two a-alkyl groups.212 Thus the reactions of benzyl compounds, like those of secondary alkyl compounds, are of borderline mechanism, while benzhydryl compounds react by the unimolecular ionization mechanism. 

Rate constants and products have been reported for solvolysis of benzhydryl chloride and /7-methoxybenzyl chloride in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE)-water and-ethanol, along with additional kinetic data for solvolysis of r-butyl and other alkyl halides in 97% TFE and 97% hexafluoropropan-2-ol. The results are discussed in terms of solvent ionizing power Y and nucleophilicity N, and contributions from other solvation effects are considered. Comparisons with other 3 nI reactions show that the solvolyses of benzhydryl chloride in TFE mixtures are unexpectedly fast an additional solvation effect influences solvolysis leading to delocalized cations. 

A calculated transition energy used to assess the polarity of a solvent. The solvent ionizing capability directly affects the position of a peak, easily measured, in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum of the complex of an iodide ion with 2-methyl- or l-ethyl-4-carbomethoxypyridinium ion. Water has a Z value of 94.6, ethanol has a value of 79.6, dimethyl sulfoxide s value is 71.1, and benzene has a value of 54. A similar polarity scale, known as x(30) values, is related to the Z value scale Z = 1.41 t(30) -E 6.92. See Solvent Effects... 

Bowden94 studied the transmission of substituent effects through C=C in the esterification of 3-substituted acrylic acids with diazodiphenylmethane (DDM) and in the ionization of the same acids. The ap values of the substituents were used to characterize their electronic effects for Hammett-type correlations. In esterification with DDM at 30 °C, the p values of the trans acids and the cis acids were 1.682 and 1.772, respectively, in ethanol... 

PPX films containing PbO nanocrystals also show increase in their conductivity under action of small quantities of ammonia and ethanol vapors from gaseous environment [89, 102, 103]. This effect takes place in the presence of water vapors only and so, most probably, is due to the formation of ionized or highly polarized molecular complexes NH3 H2O and C2H5OH H2O. The responses of conductivity to ammonia and ethanol are also reversible the film conductivity returns to its initial value after the removal of these substances from the surrounding atmosphere. 

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