Oxidation of phenolics in supercritical water. Combined quarterly technical progress report, December 1, 1995--May 31, 1996

Over the past two quarters, our work has focused on three main areas. The first area of interest involved a reexamination of the rate laws that were formed in past quarters. A possible error was discovered for the analytical methods used in the o-cresol oxidation study and the data were corrected, yielding a new rate equation. The data for hydroxybenzaldehydes were studied again, this time as a system of parallel oxidation and thermolysis reactions. The second area in which progress was made was the study of the thermolysis of nitrophenols and dihydroxybenzenes in supercritical water. These investigations were needed to determine the effect that pyrolysis or hydrolysis had on our previous supercritical water oxidation experiments. Thirdly, we have continued to investigate the use of molecular orbital theory in the determination reactivity indices. A reactivity index, such as the enthalpy of formation, may be used in a structure-reactivity relationship to summarize the kinetics for the oxidation of phenolics in supercritical water. Progress in each of these areas is summarized