Acetyl chloride is not very soluble in water and reacts violently with water.

Acetyl chloride is rapidly hydrolyzed in water to form acetic acid and hydrogen chloride by the reaction equation CH3COCl + H2O ⟶ CH3COOH + HCl. In a sense, because of this hydrolysis reaction, acetyl chloride cannot be dissolved in water in large quantities in its purely molecular form. Its solubility in water is relatively small if only in terms of its brief presence before hydrolysis.

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