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Second Order Rate Constant of Water Assisted Neutral Hydrolysis of Methyl Acetate: Project Based Activity for Post Graduate Students

Mallelli Murali1, Sanjeev Rachuru2,, Jagannadham Vandanapu3,, M. Sujatha2, K B Shanti Sudha4, Devarkonda A. Padmavathi3, Adam A Skelton5

1Department of Chemistry, Geethanjali College of Engineering and Technology, Cheeryal-501301, Telangana, India

2Department of Chemistry, St. Ann's College for Women, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad 500 028, Telangana, India

3Department of Chemistry, Osmania University, Hyderabad-500007, India

4Department of Chemistry, Govt. Degree College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad 500016, Telangana, India

5Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4000, South Africa

World Journal of Chemical Education. 2025, 13(4), 98-102. DOI: 10.12691/wjce-13-4-2
Received October 03, 2025; Revised November 05, 2025; Accepted November 13, 2025

Abstract

There were numerous reports on the kinetic study of acid catalyzed hydrolysis of methyl acetate. In all these studies emphasis was on the calculation of pseudo-first order rate constant. There were very few reports on the calculation of second order rate constant of uncatalyzed hydrolysis of methyl acetate; a small note regarding the second order rate constant is mentioned in the 12th class Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Indian textbook. It is known that the hydrolysis of methyl acetate can proceed via two pathways: the un-catalyzed and the acid catalyzed. The un-catalyzed path of the reaction is too slow to be followed. It will take several days to follow the reaction. In the present article an attempt was made to calculate the second order rate constant of the un-catalyzed path. This rate constant was obtained by plotting kobs (pseudo-first order acid catalyzed rate constants at different acid concentrations) versus [H+]. The extrapolation to zero concentration that is the y-intercept divided by the water concentration yields the second order un-catalyzed rate constant. This second order rate constant was also determined theoretically. To the best of our knowledge, no one has determined the second order rate constant of this uncatalyzed reaction. This can be given as project-based activity to Graduate students.

Keywords:

Methyl acetate, Second order, DFT
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