The alkaline hydrolysis of alkyl esters of anthraquinone-1- and -2-carboxylic acids

Abstract

In the alkaline hydrolysis of carboxylic esters in ‘70% dioxan’ solution the rate coefficients for the anthraquinone-2-esters are ca. 50 times as fast, and for the anthraquinone-1-esters ca. 1/20 times as fast, as those for the corresponding benzoates. The very low rates for the 1-esters are due to very low entropies of activation, and the high rates for the 2-esters mainly to relatively low enthalpies of activation.