Formaldehyde dehydration rate constant

For example, for formaldehyde (R = H) at neutral pH, the pseudo-first-order rate constant for the hydration reaction (forward reaction), k =k [H20], is about 10 s 1 and the first-order rate constant for dehydration, k2, is about 5x 10-3 s-1. In Chapter 20 we will use this example to show that the reactivity of compounds can influence the kinetics of air/water exchange if both processes (reaction and exchange) occur on similar time scales. 

Consider two aldehydes at neutral pH, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. The hydration/ dehydration (pseudo-) first-order rate constants and the nondimensional Henry s law constants are summarized below. Since in the following discussion you are interested in orders of magnitude only, you assume that aqueous molecular diffusiv-ities of all involved species are the same as the value for C02, (DIW = 2 x 10 5 cm2s 1) and that the corresponding values in air are the same as the value for water vapor (Dwateri = 0.26 cm2s 1). This allows us (as a rough estimate) to calculate v,w and v,a directly from Eqs. 20-15 and 20-16, respectively. 

The usual means of finding general catalysis is to measure reaction rate with various concentrations of the general acids or bases but a constant concentration of H30 +. Since the pH depends only on the ratio of [HA] to [A-] and not on the absolute concentrations, this requirement may be satisfied by the use of buffers. Catalytic rate constants have been measured for a number of acids and bases in aldehyde hydration-dehydration, notably by Bell and co-workers.10 For formaldehyde, a = 0.24, /3 = 0.40 earlier work11 gave for acetaldehyde a = 0.54, /3 = 0.45 and for symmetrical dichloroacetone a = 0.27, /3 = 0.50. 

It has been shown by H naff (1963) that the rate of reaction of several carbonyl reagents (bisulphite, hydrazine, phenylhydrazine, semi-carbazide and hydroxylamine) with aqueous formaldehyde solutions is independent of the nature and concentration of the reagent, and is therefore determined by the rate of dehydration of methylene glycol. He obtained catalytic constants for hydrogen and hydroxide ions, and a detailed study of acid-base catalysis has been made by the same method by Bell and Evans (1966). 

In principle the velocity of dehydration could be measured if a physical rather than a chemical method were available for removing the unhydrated carbonyl compound at a rate comparable to its hydration. It was claimed by Bieber and Triimpler (1947a) that this could be achieved by the removal of formaldehyde in a rapid gas stream, the rate of which appeared to be dependent on the pH of the solution. However, attempts to repeat their experiments have proved unsuccessful moreover, although they give no experimental details, calculation in terms of known kinetic and equilibrium constants shows that for a 1-ml liquid sample a gas flow of at least 30 litres/min would be required to produce an appreciable perturbation of equilibrium conditions (Bell and Evans, 1966). It is thus clear that this method has no practical application, at least to formaldehyde solutions. 

---