KINETICS OF ALKALINE-HYDROLYSIS OF ORGANIC ESTERS AND AMIDES IN NEUTRALLY-BUFFERED SOLUTION

Reaction rate constants for the hydrolysis of organic esters and amides were determined at temperatures of 100–240°C in aqueous solutions buffered at pH values between 5.5 and 7.3. Experiments are modeled assuming alkaline hydrolysis with a thermodynamic solution model included to account for the temperature dependence of hydroxide ion concentration. In most cases, the ester hydrolysis second order rate constants agree well with published values from experiments in strongly basic solutions at pH values from 11 to 14 and temperatures from 25–80°C, despite the large extrapolations required to compare the data sets. The amide hydrolysis rate constants are about one order of magnitude higher than the extrapolated results from other investigators, but the reaction rate increased proportionally with hydroxide ion concentration, suggesting that an alkaline hydrolysis mechanism is also appropriate. These data establish the validity of the alkaline hydrolysis mechanism and can be used to predict hydrolysis reaction rates in neutrally‐buffered solutions such as many groundwater and geothermal fluids. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.