Critical phenomena in acetone oxidation by nitric acid

Abstract

The kinetic regularities of acetone oxidation by aqueous nitric acid solutions (5.86–58.31 wt.%) were studied using a differential automatic microcalorimeter. The critical phenomena were discovered, which manifest themselves as a abrupt change in the initial heat release rate at a minor change in the temperature or acid concentration. The abrupt change in the oxidative activity of the reactant at a minor change in the system parameter was assumed to be related to changes in the structure of the solution and, as a consequence, in the solvation energy of the reactants at a certain acid/water ratio in the solution.