On-water reaction
chemical reaction
On-water reactions are a group of organic reactions that take place as an emulsion in water and have an unusual reaction rate acceleration compared with (i) the same reaction in an organic solvent, or (ii) the corresponding dry media reaction. This effect has been known for many years but in 2005 researchers in the group of K. Barry Sharpless published a systematic study into this phenomenon.
The rate acceleration is found in certain Claisen rearrangements. In one typical example of this reaction at room temperature the chemical yield was found to be 100% on water after 120 h compared with 16% for the same reaction in toluene and 73% in the neat reaction.
Enhanced reactivity is also found in cycloadditions. The reaction of quadricyclane with DEAD is a 2σ + 2σ + 2π cycloaddition that on water takes place within 10 minutes at room temperature with 82% yield. The same reaction in toluene takes 24 hours at 80 °C with 70% yield. An emulsion reaction in fluorinated cyclohexane takes 36 hours and the neat reaction takes even longer (48 hours).
Other reactions with apolar reactants such as Ene reactions and Diels–Alder reactions also exhibit rate accelerations. An explanation is not available but it involves hydrogen bonding and the presence of a small amount of dissolved solute.
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