Reaction Acceleration Promoted by Partial Solvation at the Gas/Solution Interface.

The kinetics of organic reactions of different types in microvolumes (droplets, thin films, and sealed tubes) show effects of gas/solution interfacial area, reaction molecularity and solvent polarity. Partial solvation at the gas/solution interface is a major contributor to the 10 -fold reaction acceleration seen in bimolecular but not unimolecular reactions in microdroplets. Reaction acceleration can be used to manipulate selectivity by solvent choice.