Experiment 20: Kinetics of

Acid- Catalyzed Hydrolysis of

Sucrose
Andrew Fleming, Amanda
Petty, Jordan Haskins, Gino
Moore
 Introduction
In this experiment we are trying to
measure the change in the optical
rotation of light during the course of the
acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of sucrose.
From the data, the order of the reaction
with respect to hydronium ion
concentration can be calculated [1].
 Materials and Methods
For this experiment we used:
six 100 mL volumetric flasks for the six different
solutions
one 500 mL volumetric flask for mixing the sucrose
solution
one 250 mL volumetric flask for mixing the 4.0MHCl
solutions

a HAAKE A81 and Model 800 Fisher Isotemp Constant

Temperature Circulator in order to drive the reaction
to completion
a Model 51 Polarimeter (Rudolph Instruments, Inc.)
was used to measure optical rotation in each sample
a Metler Toledo AB204 weighing scale to weigh the
desired amount of sucrose
 Materials and Methods
A stock solution of sucrose was made to have
a constant concentration of 20.0 g/100 mL

The sucrose solution was made using

100.0560 g placed in a 500 mL volumetric
flask diluted to the line with D.I. water.
excess was made for potential retrial
 Table of Dilutions
Trial # Sucrose HCl (M) HCl (mL) H2O (mL)
solution (mL)
1 25.0 2.0 25.0 0.0
2 25.0 1.6 20.0 5.0
3 25.0 1.2 15.0 10.0
4 25.0 0.8 10.0 15.0
5 25.0 0.4 5.0 20.0
6 25.0 0.0 0.0 25.0
 Materials and Methods
The solutions were mixed one at a time just prior to
their trial on the polarimeter.

The glass, polarimeter tube was cleaned prior to each

trial.

Each of the six solutions were used to fill the glass tube.

Air bubbles present in the tube were guided to a raised

nodule in the glass to prevent obstruction of light.

Data was recorded by measuring the angle of rotation

of the polarized light passing through the solutions.
 Results
Data was entered in Microsoft
Excel for analysis.
Ln((α0-α∞)/(αt-α∞))
the values for this equation for each trial
were graphed versus the time in seconds
the slope of the best fit line yielded our rate
constants
Results
Results
Results
Results
 Results
Concentration Slope (rate constant) ± Standard Deviation

2.0 MHCl 8.97 x 10-4 ± 0.16 x 10-4

1.6 MHCl 4.95 x 10-4 ± 0.08 x 10-4

1.2 MHCl 3.45 x 10-4 ± 0.12 x 10-4

0.8 MHCl 2.68 x 10-4 ± 0.07 x 10-4

0.4 MHCl 6.61 x 10-4 ± 0.17 x 10-4

 Results
Concentrati log of [HCl] log of slope
on of HCl [Ln((a0-af)/(at-af)) vs. time]
(M)
2.0 0.3010 -3.0473

1.6 0.2041 -3.3053

1.2 0.0792 -3.4617
0.8 -0.0969 -3.5720
0.4 -0.3979 -3.1801

0.0 Undefined ---------

 Discussion
The slope of our “log (k) vs. log [H+]” plot gives
us the order with respect to the hydronium ion.

The order with respect to the hydronium ion is

0.1379 ± 0.4334 when the data for the 0.4 MHCl
is included in the plot. However, the
correlation coefficient for this plot was very
low.

When the data for 0.4 MHCl is excluded from the

plot, the order with respect to the hydronium
ion is found to be 1.2564 ± 0.2966.
 Conclusion
The HCl acted as a catalyst for the dissociation
of sucrose into fructose and glucose. Since the
two products are also chiral molecules, they
have different optical rotations than the
starting product. Observing a change in the
optical rotation of each sample gives evidence
of the reaction taking place.
 Conclusion
Our trial with the 0.0 MHCl solution
(uncatalyzed) yeilded no appreciable change
in the sucrose concentration.

We know that water breaks down sucrose by

hydrolysis, however the process is so gradual
that there was no change in the concentration
of sucrose detected in our experiment for the
0.0 MHCl solution. Thus, we can see that HCl is
an appreciable catalyst.
 Citations
Clark, Roy W.; Howard, James C. Physical Chemistry
Lab Manual, 4th ed., RonJon Publishing, Denton, TX,
1996.
Fleming, A.J.; Physical Chemistry Laboratory
Notebook, 2007 p. 10-11.
Fleming, A.J.; Physical Chemistry Laboratory CD, 2007.
Haskins, J.R.; Physical Chemistry Laboratory
Notebook, 2007 p. 1-3.
Haskins, J.R.; Physical Chemistry Laboratory CD, 2007.
Moore, L.G.; Physical Chemistry Laboratory Notebook,
2007 p. 1-3.
Moore, L.G.; Physical Chemistry Laboratory CD, 2007.
Petty, A..; Physical Chemistry Laboratory Notebook,
2007 p. 4-5.
Petty, A..; Physical Chemistry Laboratory CD, 2007.