Acetyl chloride has low solubility in water and reacts violently with it.
Acetyl chloride rapidly hydrolyzes upon contact with water, producing acetic acid and hydrogen chloride. The reaction equation is: CH₃COCl + H₂O → CH₃COOH + HCl. In a sense, due to this hydrolysis reaction, acyl chloride cannot dissolve in water in large quantities as a pure molecule. Considering only its brief existence before hydrolysis, its solubility in water is relatively low.