Micellar effect upon the rate of alkaline hydrolysis of carboxylic and carbonate esters

The alkaline hydrolysis of carboxylate (1-naphthylbutyrate) and carbonate esters (2-(methylsulfonyl)-ethyl-4-nitrophenylcarbonate) in the presence of different surfactants has been studied. The rate of hydrolysis of these esters was determined under pseudo first order condition in which the concentration of NaOH was kept in large excess over the [ester]. The cationic micelles of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr) and cetyltrimethylammonium sulfate ((CTA)2SO4) enhanced the rate of hydrolysis of esters to a maximum value and thereafter, the increasing concentration of surfactant decreased the reaction rate. The anionic micelles of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) inhibited the rate of the hydrolysis. The reaction proceeds through the attack of OH− ions on the carbonyl carbon forming tetrahedral intermediate. The tetrahedral intermediate is unstable and collapses immediately to yield respective acid and alcohol. The micelles influence the stability of tetrahedral intermediate, in turn, altering the rate of hydrolysis. The variation in the rate of hydrolysis by micelles was treated by considering the pseudophase ion-exchange model and Menger-Portnoy model. The added salts viz. NaBr, NaCl, and LiCl inhibited the rate of the reaction in the presence of cationic and anionic micelles. The kinetic parameters i.e. km and Ks were determined from the rate-[surfactant] profile.