A trace of water on the crystal or in the vapor is sufficient to start the reaction, and the extra water released makes the decomposition of additional molecules of formate possible. In order to interpret the rate data on the pure solid, we set up the following tentative mechanism: The re'action occurs heterogeneously between the crystal and water either in the vapor or the liquid phase. The amount of reaction which has occurred during the induction period is so small that we can ...
![1-phenyl-2-[(2-phenylphenoxy)methoxy]benzene Structure](https://image.chemsrc.com/caspic/154/116374-06-2.png)