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Kinetics of Oxidation of Aliphatic Alcohols by Potassium Dichromate in Aqueous and Micellar Media


M Hassan
AN Al-Hakimi
MD Alahmadi

Abstract

The kinetics of oxidation of four aliphatic alcohols in acidic aqueous and micellar media were investigated. The reaction was found to be first-order with respect to both alcohol and oxidant. Pseudo-first-order kinetics were found to be perfectly applicable with ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol while deviation was observed at intermediate stages of the reaction with methanol. The pseudo-first-order rate constants were found to be independent of concentration of the oxidant. The presence of TX-100 enhanced the rate of the reaction for all alcohols. Negative salt effects were observed with addition of KCl to the reaction mixture. A suitable mechanism for the reaction was suggested which agrees with the experimental findings.

Keywords: Oxidation, dichromate, alcohol, pseudo-first-order, micellar effect


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1996-840X
print ISSN: 0379-4350