The Hydration of Mesitylketene in Aqueous Solution: Detection of Acid Catalysis for an Aromatic Ketene.

Mesitylketene was generated flash photolytically in aqueous solution by the photo-Wolff reaction of 2,4,6-trimethyldiazoacetophenone and also by rearrangement of mesitylynol obtained through photodecarbonylation of mesitylhydroxycyclopropenone, and rates of hydration of this ketene were measured in dilute perchloric acid, sodium perchlorate, and sodium hydroxide solutions as well as in concentrated sodium perchlorate and perchloric acid solutions. In dilute solution only an uncatalyzed reaction and a sodium-hydroxide-catalyzed process were observed, both of which could be attributed to nucleophilic attack, by water and by hydroxide ion, respectively, at the ketene carbonyl carbon atom. In concentrated sodium perchlorate solutions, a mild decrease in reaction rate with increasing salt concentration was observed, as expected on the basis of decreasing water activity and a consequent slowing of the uncatalyzed reaction. A similar mild decrease was found in perchloric acid solutions up to but this then gave w...