| Abstract
| - The autocatalytic biphasic alkaline hydrolysis of C-4 to C-8 ethyl alkanoates was studied in a CSTR. In ourexperimental conditions, the two shorter esters (C-4 and C-5) showed monostable behavior while the longerones (C-6 to C-8) showed bistability. Both the occurrence of bistability and the amplitude of the bistabledomain in the CSTR can be related to the strength of the autocatalysis in batch conditions. For C-4 and C-5,the mild autocatalysis stems from a slight increase of their solubilization rate due to the salting-in and solventeffects of the alcohol and alkanoate ions formed. As the critical micellar concentration (cmc) decreases withincreasing chain length, for the longer esters this critical concentration was reached during the course of thereaction. The formation of micelles (that are able to solubilize the ester in their core) in the reactive mediumconsiderably accelerates the solubilization process, leading to stronger autocatalysis and a wider bistabilitydomain.
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