Kinetics of Sucrose Inversion in Mixed Solvents

Abstract

Sucrose solvolysis was observed under the same conditions in water and in mixed solvents of aqueous ethanol and aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide. The reaction is a specifically acid catalyzed one and occurs as a pseudo first order reaction. Influence of the catalyst (sulfuric acid) concentration was observed and spontaneous and catalytic constants of reaction rate were calculated. The reaction was observed by a polarimetric method of examining the angle of polarized light plane rotation in the course of the reaction in an acid environment at 298K. The obtained experimental results were interpreted based on the Hughes-Ingold theory of the effect of ionizing power of a solvent onto the reaction in the solvent.