THE MECHANISM OF DEPOLYMERIZATION OF PARALDEHYDE CATALYZED BY SOLID ACID By

Initial velocity v of catalyzed depolymerization of paraldehyde in the presence of heterogeneous catalyst was observed at various initial concentrations of substrate [S'). It has been shown that a linear relationship between 1/v and 1/[S] does exist for a definite miIIi equivalent of acid sites on solid catalyst. It was concluded from the result that the reaction involves an intermediate paraldehyde-solid acid complex just as enzymatic process generally involves substrate-enzyme complex as intermediate. The kinetics, hence the mechanism inferred is thus different from that of usual acid-catalyzed reaction