Micellar catalysis on picolinic acid promoted hexavalent chromium oxidation of glycerol

Abstract

Under pseudo-first-order conditions, monomeric Cr(VI) was found to be kinetically active in the absence of picolinic acid (PA), whereas in the PA-promoted path, the Cr(VI)–PA complex undergoes nucleophilic attack by the substrate to form a ternary complex which subsequently experiences redox decomposition, leading to glyceraldehydes and Cr(IV)–PA complex. The uncatalyzed path shows a second-order dependence on [H⁺], whereas the PA-catalyzed path shows zero-order dependence on [H⁺]. Both the uncatalyzed and PA-catalyzed path show a first-order dependence on [glycerol]_T and [Cr(VI)]_T. The PA-catalyzed path is first order in [PA]_T. All these observations remain unaltered in the presence of externally added surfactants. The effect of the cationic surfactant cetyl pyridinium chloride (CPC) and anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the PA-catalyzed path have been studied. CPC inhibits, whereas SDS accelerates the reaction. Here, SDS is a catalyst for glyceraldehydes production and at the same time reduction of carcinogenic hexavalent chromium to nontoxic trivalent chromium. The reaction proceeds simultaneously in both aqueous and micellar phase. Micellar effects have been explained by considering the preferential partitioning of reactants between the micellar and aqueous phase. The Menger–Portnoy model, Piszkiewicz cooperative model, and pseudo-phase ion exchange model have been tested to explain the observed micellar effect.

Keywords:

• Micellar catalysis
• Oxidation
• Chromium
• Glycerol
• Menger–Portnoy model
• Piszkiewicz cooperative model
• Pseudo-phase ion exchange

Acknowledgments

We thank CSIR, New Delhi, for financial support.