A transformative oxidation process involving silver-based catalysis of para aminobenzyl alcohol for transposing a pollutant into a resource

Abstract

ABSTRACT A kinetic-spectrophotometric method has been devised to analyze the oxidation reaction of Para-aminobenzyl alcohol [PABAlc] catalyzed by Ag (I). PABAlc is used in numerous fields of pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry as intermediates. The harmful effects of PABAlc cannot be overlooked in spite of its manifold applications. The toxicity of PABAlc may lead to allergic reactions, serious eye damage, respiratory tract infections amongst few. It became utmost important to formulate a method to establish the presence of PABAlc in a particular sample of water in order to circumvent its proximity to common people. In our work, we have provided an insight to an oxidation process using PABAlc as substrate catalyzed by Ag (I) ions besides proposing a reaction mechanism of the reaction under study with substantial data in the form of different thermodynamic parameters like activation energy (55 kJ/mol−1), temperature coefficient (1.92), enthalpy of activation (52.89 kJ/mol−1), alongside deets related to various effects of oxidant, substrate, catalyst, temperature, pH, ionic strength, and so on, on reaction kinetics. Additionally, the product formed in the proposed mechanism has its commercial importance in the field of pharmacy, dyes, and so on, sufficient enough to put forward a rationale for the investigations.