Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxidation of Diethyl Ether by Chloramine-T in Acidic Medium

Abstract

The kinetics of oxidation of diethyl ether (DE) with sodium N-chloro-p-toluenesulphonamide (CAT) in hydrochloric acid solution has been studied at (313°K).The reaction rate show a first order dependence on [CAT] and fractional order dependence on each [DE] and [H+] .The variation of ionic strength of the medium has no significant effect on the reaction rate , addition of p-toluenesulphonamide (p-TSA) affects the reaction rate marginally the rate increased with decreasing dielectric constant of the medium , the stochiometry of the reaction was found to be 1:2 and oxidation products were identified , A Michaelis – Menten type mechanism has been suggested to explain the results.The equilibrium and the decomposition constants of CAT – diethyl ether complex have been evaluated. Thermodynamic parameters were computed by studying reaction at temperatures range ( 308 – 323°K) for the rate limiting step and for the observed first order constants by the linear Arrhenius plot. The mechanism proposed and the derived rate law are consistent with observed kinetics.