CRITICAL PROPERTIES OF ALKANOIC ACIDS USING THE SEALED AMPUL METHOD

The critical temperatures and densities of the alkanoic acids containi ng up to ten carbon atoms have been measured using a sealed ampule met hod. Our critical temperature data show some disagreement with the dat a in the Literature, due partly to differences in the experimental tec hniques used and partly to differences in the extrapolation techniques employed to determine the true critical properties of the substances. No published data on critical densities of the alkanoic acids were av ailable for comparison. The performance of several group contribution methods has also been examined and shown to be poor for the critical p roperties of the homologous series of alkanoic acids.