HALOCARBON HYDROLYSIS RATES - A SEARCH FOR IONIC-STRENGTH AND HETEROGENEOUS EFFECTS

Ten chlorinated or fluorinated alkanes and alkenes were hydrolyzed in deionized aqueous solution, in ''sea water'', or in the presence of 11 different crushed solid minerals including sulfides, oxides, hydroxid es, and aquifer materials. No changes in the observed hydrolysis rates were found upon changing from a pure water environment to one of high ionic strength or of significant potential heterogeneous catalytic ac tivity for these typical halogenated hydrocarbons. Successive partial substitution of fluorine for chlorine in the ethanes was shown to reta rd hydrolysis by one to five orders of magnitude.