Micellar Effect on the Reaction of Chromium(VI) Oxidation of L‐Sorbose in the Presence and Absence of Picolinic Acid in Aqueous Acid Media: A Kinetic Study

The kinetics and mechanism of chromic acid oxidation of L‐sorbose in the presence and absence of picolinic acid (PA) have been studied under the conditions, [L‐sorbose] T » [PA] T » [Cr(VI)] T , at different temperatures. In the absence of PA, the monomeric chromic acid undergoes esterification with the substrate followed by the acid catalysed redox decomposition of the Cr(VI)‐substrate ester through glycol splitting to formaldehyde and the lactone of C 5 ‐aldonic acid and Cr(IV) which subsequently participates in the faster reactions. In the presence of PA, the Cr(VI)‐PA complex produced in a pre‐equilibrium step experiences a nucleophilic attack by the substrate to produce a ternary complex which decomposes through glycol splitting giving rise to the organic products and Cr(IV)‐PA complex. Both the uncatalysed and PA‐catalysed paths show the first‐order dependence on [L‐sorbose] T and [Cr(VI)] T . The PA‐catalysed path is first‐order in [PA] T and it shows a fractional order in [H + ]. The uncatalysed path shows a second‐order dependence on [H + ]. In the presence of the surfactants like N ‐cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC, a cationic surfactant) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS, an anionic sulfate), the reaction orders remain unchanged. CPC has been found to inhibit both the uncatalysed and PA‐catalysed paths while SDS shows the rate accelerating effect for both the uncatalysed and PA‐catalysed paths. The observed micellar effects have been rationalised by considering the distribution of the reactants between the micellar and aqueous phases in terms of the proposed reaction mechanism.