The reaction between so
lid tripheny
lmethy
l ch
loride(TPMC
l) and water, TPMC
l(s) + H
2O(
l)
![](/i<font color=)
mages/entities/rarr.gif">TPMOH(aq) + H
+(aq) + C
l-(aq), whereTPMOH is tripheny
lmethy
l a
lcoho
l, has been investigated using thechanne
l f
lowce
ll method. It is found that hydro
lysis proceeds via a directheterogeneous fashion whereby the reaction occurs
atthe so
lid-
liquid interface rather than in so
lution after the priordisso
lution of TPMC
l. Kinetic para
meters are reportedinc
luding the effect of ionic strength. Further, using experi
mentsconducted with different surfaces of sing
le crysta
lsof TPMC
l, it is shown that the rate of the interfacia
l process dependson the avai
labi
lity of exposed ch
lorine ato
msin the reacting crysta
l p
lane. In situ ato
mic force
microscopicstudies indicate that the TPMC
l surface, once incontact with water, is covered rapid
ly by a porous product
layer.However, the
latter provides a neg
ligib
le effect onthe reaction rate because of its high porosity.