Clathration by phenol and quinol. Part 2.—Kinetic

Abstract

An investigation has been made of the kinetics of reactions between various guest molecules and α-phenol and α-quinol crystals. The reactions were strongly promoted by shaking the crystals with small steel ball bearings, and reactions did not normally occur in absence of shaking. With α-quinol a small initial uptake of gas was followed, after an initiation time τ, by a second large uptake. With α-phenol the initiation time was not preceded by any initial uptake. Initiation times proved to be pressure dependent, but temperature independent. In the uptake following the initiation time the amount of clathrate phase formed at first tended to vary linearly with time but at a later stage varied with the square of the amount of unreacted α-phase. The properties of τ and the study of kinetic runs with interrupted shaking, and with preliminary shaking in vacuo followed by permanent cessation of shaking, have led to a possible explanation of the catalysis of the reactions through mechanical agitation.