Alkaline hydrolysis of N-mono- and N,N-disubstituted acryl- and methacrylamides

The structure of the amide group in N-mono- and N,N-disubstituted acryl- an d methacrylamides affects their hydrolytic stability in alkaline aqueous so lution. The rates of hydrolysis for particular series of N-mono- and N,N-di substituted methacrylamides show good correlations with the inductive and s teric constants of the N-substituents according to the modified Taft equati on. N-Mono- and N,N-disubstituted acrylamides can be combined into a single series through introduction of an additional term which takes into account formation of hydrogen bonds by N-monosubstituted derivatives.