Kinetics and mechanistic study of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide catalyzed oxidation of tetraethylene glycol by N-chlorosaccharin in acidic medium

Abstract

The kinetics and mechanism of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide catalyzed oxidation of tetraethylene glycol [2,2'-(oxibis(ethylenoxy)diethanol)] by N-chlorosaccharin in aqueous acetic acid medium in presence of perchloric acid have been investigated at 323K. The reaction is first order dependence on Nchlorosaccharin. The reaction rate follows first order kinetics with respect to [tetraethylene glycol] with excess concentration of other reactants. The miceller effect due to cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, a cationic surfactant has been studied. The change in ionic strength shows negligible salt effect. The dielectric effect is found to be positive. Addition of one of the products (saccharin) retards the reaction rate. Activation parameters are calculated from the Arrhenious plot. A possible mechanism consistent with the experimental results has been proposed.