KINETICS OF HALOGENATION OF FATTY ACIDS PART I. IODINATION OF ACETIC ACID

The kinetics of Iodination of sodium acetate dissolved m glacial acetic acid have been measured at 35° and 25° for sodium acetate concentrations between 0.01 M and 1.0 M and for iodine concentrations between 0.01M-0.05M. The reacton rate is found to be nearly bimolecular at the beginning but falls off very rapidly owing to the inhibitng effect of the iodide ions formed durng the reaction and also to the opposition caused by the back reaction. The value of k₂ tends to mcrease with decrease of acetate concentration and hies the range 1.2 to 1.6 x 10^-2 mol^-1 litre min^-1• The energy of activation is of the order of 25,000 calories.