This research reports on the oxidation of different amines such as dibutylamine, diethylamine, dipropylamine, ethylamine, ethylmethylamine, propylamine, triethylamine, and trimethylamine by 0.001 M potassium ferricyanide in the presence of 0.03 M NaOH at 25°C in aqueous medium and/or in 0.03 M N,. Oxidation rates were studied with a spectrophotometer at 420 nm. The experimental data showed that the reaction was first-order with respect to [amine] T and [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3− . Also, the rate constant (k obs ) had values within the concentration range of 0.015-0.05 M of NaOH and increased above the critical micelle concentration values of DDAO. The dependence of the reaction rate on the nature of the salt was also investigated, and the thermodynamic parameters ∆G*, ∆H*, and ∆S* were calculated. A pseudo-phase model was applied to the system, and the binding constant of the amine to DDAO micelles was calculated.Paper no. S1376 in JSD 8, 83-89 (January 2005).
KEY WORDS:Amines, DDAO, micelles, oxidation, potassium ferricyanide, pseudo-phase.Aqueous micelles and similar association colloids constitute a simple system in which one can modulate equilibria and chemical reactivity in solution (1). Aqueous micelles exert a medium effect on spontaneous reactions; they can accelerate or inhibit bimolecular reactions by concentrating or keeping the two reactants apart at the colloid surfaces (1). Potassium ferricyanide usually reacts with organic substrates by one electron abstraction with a redox potential of +0.36 V (2). Amines were chosen as the organic substrate since they are known to have a strong tendency to be located near the micelle surface (3).Most studies of electron transfer reactions have been carried out in anionic micellar media (4,5). However, knowledge of the kinetics of electron transfer reactions in the presence of cationic micelles is limited due to solubility problems with one of the reactants, and, in particular, negatively charged substrates, in the cationic surfactant solution. For this purpose we used a zwitterionic surfactant, namely, N,N-dimethyldodecylamine N-oxide (DDAO). DDAO is similar to cationic (protonated form) or nonionic surfactants in its catalytic effects on other reactions, depending on the pH of the aqueous solution (6).In this paper, results corresponding to the oxidation of different classes of amines by potassium ferricyanide in the presence of NaOH and an aqueous micellar solution of DDAO are presented.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURESReagents and materials. DDAO was a gift from Clariant (Gersthofen, Germany). N-Ethylmethylamine (EMA), dipropylamine (DPA), and propylamine (PA) were obtained from Acros Organics (Fairlawn, NJ). Diethylamine (DEA), di-nbutylamine (DBA), triethylamine (TEA), and trimethylamine (TMA) were purchased from Riedel-de Haën (Seelze, Germany). Ethanol was supplied by Aldrich (Milwaukee, WI). Analytical grades of the other materials were purchased from Fluka (Buchs, Switzerland).Deionized, double-distilled water was used to prepare all solutions, with specific conductivity in ...