Solvent effect on reaction rates: Reaction between sodium ethoxide and methyl iodide in ethanol + cyclohexane solvent systems

The kinetics of the reaction between sodium ethoxide and methyl iodide has been studied at 25°C in various cyclohexane-ethanol solvent mixtures with a cyclohexane content of 10 to 50% per volume. The determination of the rate constants att=0 were carried out by a new iterative method proposed in this investigation. The obtained results show that the reaction rate decreases with the increasing cyclohexane content. This behavior can be attributed to various solute-solvent interactions of electrostatic nature. On the other hand, the variation of ion and ion pairs rate constants with solvent composition permits the various solvation effects to be taken into account.