Kinetics of the hydrolysis of anilides

Summary and Conclusions

From a detailed study of the hydrolysis of sixteen different anilides in the presence of different concentrations of the catalyst (sulphuric acid), at different temperatures and with varying concentrations of the anilides, and in different solvents, it has been shown that the hydrolysis of anilides is a uni-molecular reaction. Straight lines are obtained on plotting values of log K₁ against those of 1/T, indicating that Arrhenius equation is applicable to these systems; the values of Q have been calculated from these straight lines and are found to be nearly independent of the concentration of the catalyst employed. The effect of substituent groups in the anilides is in accordance with the electronic theory of valency. This is seen clearly if the velocity constants of acetanilide and benzanilide are compared. The slower hydrolysis of benzanilide, in spite of the presence of a donor group near the covalent linkage is probably to be explained by the proximity effect.