Catalytic effect of CTAB reverse micelles on the kinetics of dissociation of bis(2,4,6–tripyridyl-s-triazine) iron(II)

Abstract

The kinetics of dissociation of bis(2,4,6–tripyridyl-s-triazine) iron(II), ([Fe(TPTZ)2]2+) has been studied in CTAB/chloroform/hexane reverse micellar medium. In the absence of acid, the reaction is immeasurably slow and does not go to completion in conventional aqueous medium but is markedly accelerated and takes place with a rate constant equal to 55.3 × 10−3 s−1 and goes to completion in reverse micelles. The significant increase in rate is attributed to the special properties of the water pool in the reverse micelles like low dielectric constant, nucleophilic effect of Br- ion, and favorable partitioning of TPTZ in the organic phase. The rate of the reaction decreases with increase in W (=[H2O]/[CTAB]) at constant CTAB concentration and remains constant with increase in CTAB at fixed W. The results are compared with other closely related systems.