Kinetics and mechanism of alkaline hydrolysis of 4‐nitrophthalimide in the absence and presence of cationic micelles

Pseudo‐first‐order rate constants (k_obs) for alkaline hydrolysis of 4‐nitrophthalimide (NPTH) decreased by nearly 8‐ and 6‐fold with the increase in the total concentration of cetyltrimethyl‐ammonium bromide (CTABr]_T) from 0 to 0.02 M at 0.01 and 0.05 M NaOH, respectively. These observations are explained in terms of the pseudophase model and pseudophase ion‐exchange model of micelle. The increase in the contents of CH₃CN from 1 to 70% v/v and CH₃OH from 0 to 80% v/v in mixed aqueous solvents decreases k_obs by nearly 12‐ and 11‐fold, respectively. The values of k_obs increase by nearly 27% with the increase in the ionic strength from 0.03 to 3.0 M. The mechanism of alkaline hydrolysis of NPTH involves the reactions between HO^? and nonionized NPTH as well as between HO^? and ionized NPTH. The micellar inhibition of the rate of alkaline hydrolysis of NPTH is attributed to medium polarity effect. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 33: 407–414, 2001