A RADIOTRACER STUDY OF THE KINETICS OF THE NON ISOTOPIC HALOGEN EXCHANGE REACTIONS

The present paper reports that the exchanges between iodide ions or bromide ions and cetyl iodide or cetyl bromide in n-butyl alcohol which are studied for the first time by radiotracer method follow a second-order kinetics (SN2 mechanisms). The corresponding kinetic and/or thermodynamic parameters are obtained. The rates of these exchanges are found to be as follows:I-for-I>I-for- Br>Br-for-I>Br-for-Brwhich in turn is explained in terms of solvent effects. The theoretical treatment and the experimentation reported may also be applicable to similar reactions.