Kinetics of the Sodium-Ammonia Reduction of 3-Octyne

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00257a002

The reduction of 3-octyne by sodium in liquid ammonia was studied kinetically with use of conventional conductometric techniques.The reaction was found to obey the second-order differential rate law-dam^->/dt=2kam^-><3-octyne>.An activation energy of 3.8 +/- 0.9 kcal/mol was calculated.The presence of a weak acid (H2O) markedly increased the reaction rate.A mechanism in which protonation of the radical anion is the rate-determining step is suggested.