Chapter 20, Problem 72E

One proposed meachanism for the condensation of propanone, ${\left({\text{CH}}_{\text{2}}\right)}_{\text{2}}\text{CO}$ , is as follows:

   $\begin{array}{c}{\left({\text{CH}}_{\text{3}}\right)}_{\text{2}}\text{CO}\left(\text{aq}\right){\text{+OH}}^{\text{-}}\left(\text{aq}\right)⥂{\text{CH}}_{\text{3}}\text{C}\left(\text{O}\right){\text{CH}}_{\text{2}}{}^{\text{-}}\left(\text{aq}\right){\text{+H}}_{\text{2}}\text{O}\left(\text{l}\right)\\ CH{3}_{}C\left(\text{O}\right){\text{CH}}_{\text{2}}{}^{\text{-}}\left(\text{aq}\right)\text{+}{\left({\text{CH}}_{\text{3}}\right)}_{\text{2}}\text{CO}\left(\text{aq}\right)\to \text{product}\end{array}$

Use the steady-state approximation to determine the rate of formation for the product.