Perborate Oxidation of Substituted 5-Oxoacids in Aqueous Acetic Acid Medium: A Kinetic and Mechanistic Study

Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of substituted 5-oxoacids by sodium perborate in aqueous acetic acid medium have been studied. The reaction exhibits first order both in [perborate] and [5-oxoacid] and second order in [H+]. Variation in ionic strength has no effect on the reaction rate, while the reaction rates are enhanced on lowering the dielectric constant of the reaction medium. Electron releasing substituents in the aromatic ring accelerate the reaction rate and electron withdrawing substituents retard the reaction. The order of reactivity among the studied 5-oxoacids is p-methoxy ≫ p-methyl > p-phenyl > –H > p-chloro > p-bromo > m-nitro. The oxidation is faster than H2O2 oxidation. The formation of H 2 BO 3 + is the reactive species of perborate in the acid medium. Activation parameters have been evaluated using Arrhenius and Eyring’s plots. A mechanism consistent with the observed kinetic data has been proposed and discussed. Based on the mechanism a suitable rate law is derived.