Acid-Base Reactions Involving Deuterium

From measurements of the rate of neutralisation of a pseudo-acid, nitroethane, in heavy water, a comparison is made of the relative rates of ionisation of protium and deuterium atoms, the ratio being approximately 10 : 1. It is shown that these relative rates are of great importance in the study of catalysis by acids and bases in heavy water and some conclusions may be drawn with regard to the mechanism of the inversion of sucrose and of the mutarotation of glucose. These results also have a bearing on the question of deuterium-protium exchange in compounds when dissolved in water.