Acid hydrolysis of acetamide in aqueous acetic acid

Abstract

The hydrolysis of acetamide in acetic acid has been studied over a wide range of reactant and salt concentrations. The various acid-base and ionic association equilibria must be considered in the interpretation of the data. It is shown that the mechanism is a bimolecular reaction between water and the acetamidium ion and that the acetamidium ion pairs and triple ions have no reactivity. Polar substances such as water and acetamide, apart from undergoing reaction, also increase the reaction rate by favouring the dissociation of the ion pairs. Salts exhibit strong ionic strength and ion-pair effects.