Methyl isonitrile acetonitrile

Cyanomethane, commonly known as acetonitrile, CH3CN, is a toxic volatile liquid that is used as a solvent to purify steriods and to extract fatty acids from fish oils. Acetonitrile can be synthesized from methyl isonitrile by the isomerization reaction CH,NC(g) - CH3CN(g). 

The rearrangement of methyl isonitrile (CH3NC) to acetonitrile (CH3CN) is a first-order reaction and has a rate constant of 5.11 X 10-5 s 1 at 472 K. 

As an example, consider the conversion of methyl isonitrile (CH3NC) to its isomer acetonitrile (CH3CN) ( FIGURE 14.7). Because experiments show that the reaction is first order, we can write the rate equation ... 

FIGURE 14.14 Temperature dependence of the rate constant for methyl isonitrile conversion to acetonitrile. The four points indicated are used in Sample Exercise 14.11. 

A FIGURE 14.17 Energy profile for conversion of methyl isonitrile (H3CNC) to its isomer acetonitrile (H CN). 

We have seen that reactions take place because of collisions between reacting molecules. For example, the collisions between molecules of methyl isonitrile (CH3NC) can provide the energy to allow the CH3NC to rearrange to acetonitrile ... 

A Figure 14.15 Energy profile for the rearrangement (isomerization) of methyl isonitrile. The molecule must surmount the activation-energy barrier before it can form the product, acetonitrile. 

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