Study of the Non-Catalyzed Molecular Reaction of Reducing Sugars

The study of the non-catalyzed molecular reaction of reducing sugars by a spectrophotometry technique, at different concentrations of sugar, iodine and temperature has been undertaken for the firsttime. the absence of a salt effect indicates that a reaction does not take place between ionic substances and that at least one of the reactants must be non-ionic. this adds further confirmation to the hypothesisthat the reaction takes place directly between sugars and hypoiodous acid. the results indicate that the reaction is first order kinetics with respect to sugars and hypoiodous acid, but it is zero order kinetic,with respect to iodine concentration. the low value of energy of activation confirmed the presence of neutral molecules in the rate determining step. the negative value of entropy shows that the process is not spontaneous, but the reverse process is spontaneous at all temperatures. thermodynamic parameters have been evaluated by studying kinetics at various temperatures. a suitable mechanism has been proposed in consistency with the kinetic results.