Kinetics of a Hydrolysis Reaction in an Oil/Water Microemulsion System Near the Critical Point

We have constructed the pseudoternary phase diagram of surfynol465 + n -butanol + cyclohexane + H 2 O with k m = 2 (where k m is the weight ratio of surfynol465 to n -butanol) by the water titration method. Electrical conductivity measurements were employed to investigate the microstructures of the single-phase region. In the oil/water microemulsion region, we have measured the hydrolysis reaction rate of 2-bromo-2-methylpropane near and far away from the critical point. It was found that the Arrhenius equation was valid for correlating experimental measurements far away from the critical point but a significant acceleration effect exists near the critical point, which is not consistent with thermodynamic interpretation of Griffiths and Wheeler.