INTENSIFICATION OF INSTANTANEOUS HETEROGENEOUS REACTION BY SIMPLE SALTS AND CHARGED MICROPHASE

The mass-transfer rate for the instantaneous heterogeneous reaction be tween N,N-diethylaniline (organic phase) and HCl in the aqueous phase was determined in the presence of a number of supporting electrolytes, that is, NaCl, SrCl2, AlCl3, and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide surf actant micelle. Both the simple salts and the cationic surfactant enha nce the mass transfer of the reactive H+ ion, the effectiveness being in the order of CTAB > AlCl3 > SrCl2 > NaCl. The experimentally observ ed enhancement factor for the reaction in the presence of the supporti ng electrolytes ranges from 1.3 to 6. This enhancement is explained on the basis of the ''ion-coupling'' effect that augments the diffusive fluxes of the more mobile ionic species in a multi-ion system. The fil m-theory approximation is used to obtain theoretical estimates of the enhancement factor, and these are found to be in reasonably good agree ment with the experimentally obtained values.