Organic compounds, dominance

World production of I2 in 1992 approached 15 000 tonnes, the dominant producers being Japan 41%, Chile 40%, USA 10% and the former Soviet Union 9%. Crude iodine is packed in double polythene-lined fibre drums of 10-50-kg capacity. Resublimed iodine is transported in lined fibre drums (11.3 kg) or in bottles containing 0.11, 0.45 or 2.26 kg. The price of I2 has traditionally fluctuated wildly. Thus, because of acute over-supply in 1990 the price for I2 peaked at 22/kg in 1988, falling to 12/kg in 1990 and 9.50/kg in 1992. Unlike CI2 and Br2, iodine has no predominant commercial outlet. About 50% is incorporated into a wide variety of organic compounds and about 15% each is accounted for as resublimed iodine, KI, and other inorganics. The end uses include catalysts for synthetic rubber manufacture, animal- and fowl-feed supplements. 

Metal ions in aqueous solution exist as complexes with water. The solubility of organic compounds in water depends primarily on their polarity and their ability to form hydrogen bonds with water. Organic compounds with a large part of polar components such as acetic acid, dissolve in water without limit. In such cases, the polar part dominates. By contrast, soaps and detergents have a polar end attached to a relatively large nonpolar part of the molecule. They have limited solubility and the molecules tend to coalesce to form micelles. 

Hydrolysis is strongly pH-dependent, with L, dominant at low pH and kb dominant at high pH at pH 7, kn can often be most important. However, the detailed relationship of pH and rate depends on the specific values of kn, fca, and kb. If these rate constants are known, then the hydrolysis rate at any pH can be readily calculated. Mabey and Mill158 provide these data for a large number of organic compounds, and Ellington159-161 provides data on about 70 regulated hazardous pollutants. 

In a system defined by wastewater in a sewer network, the heterotrophic bacteria dominate the microbial community, i.e., organic compounds are required as a carbon source. Furthermore, the energy source (electron donor) for the heterotrophs is primarily also organic compounds, i.e., the heterotrophs that dominate wastewater in sewers are chemoheterotrophic (chemoorganotrophic) microorganisms. 

The dominant tendency of my studies has been not so much to obtain and describe organic compounds but... to penetrate their mechanisms.. . . For undertaking this kind of problem, the classic methods of organic chemistry are far from sufficient. Physicochemical procedures become more and more necessary. I have been led to use especially optical methods (the Raman effect and ultraviolet spectra) and electrochemical techniques (conductibility, electrode potentials, and especially polarography).. . . The notion of reaction mechanism led almost automatically to envisioning the electronic aspect of chemical phenomena. From 1927, and working in common with Charles Prevost, I have directed my attention on the electronic theory of reactions." 56... 

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