Kinetics of Glucose Mutarotation in Aqueous Urea Solutions

Kinetics of glucose mutarotation in water-urea mixtures with urea concentrations of 0-15 mol % was studied in the temperature range 283-308 K. It was found for the first time that the rate of mutarotation increases with increasing concentration of urea in water. It was established that urea molecules along with water molecules affect directly the reaction rate via specific solvation. The fact that the activation parameters are almost independent of the concentration of urea was explained in terms of preservation of the structure of the solutions in the composition range studied.