The enolization of acetone catalyzed by a series of aliphatic carboxylate bases (eq 1) was studied by Bell and Lidwell,'who reported a Bransted exponent@ of 0.88 for the four bases that comprised the series. As a part of a study of steric and other effects in proton-transfer reactions, 2 we have reexamined and greatly extended their series and have included in it a considerable number of dicarboxylic acid dianions.
