DG134 - 28-12-2015 at 16:52
I was hoping someone could explain to me how to run the reaction without a catalyst like Sulfuric acid. Could I get the reaction going by heating it?
H2O2 + CH3CO2H -> H2O + CH3CO3H
I'm using 3% H2O2 and 9% Acetic acid. What is the maximum concentration of peracetic acid I can achieve from this reaction? Of the people mixing
Hydrogen Peroxide and Acetic acid online, it seems like nobody used a catalyst and it worked fine for getting copper acetate.
If someone can help fill me in with exactly what's going on here I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
[Edited on 29-12-2015 by DG134]
Texium - 28-12-2015 at 17:29
The reaction of peroxide and acetic acid to form peracetic acid and water is in equilibrium that can shift depending on concentrations, temperature,
etc. With 3% peroxide and 9% acetic acid, the reactants are favored strongly, and there is virtually no peracetic acid in the solution. If you were to
mix concentrated hydrogen peroxide and glacial acetic acid (which would be very ill-advised), you would definitely get a lot of peracetic acid.
The reason that the mixture of dilute reagents will dissolve things like copper is because of a two step reaction in which the peroxide is slowly
oxidizing the copper from 0 to +2, which then reacts with the acetic acid forming copper(II) acetate.
Also, welcome to Sciencemadness.