Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of substituted benzaldehydes by hexamethylenetetramine-bromine

Abstract

The oxidation of thirty-six monosubstituted benzaldehydes by hexa-methylenetetramine-bromine (HABR), in aqueous acetic acid solution, leads to the formation of the corresponding benzoic acids. The reaction is first order with respect to HABR. Michaelis-Menten–type kinetics were observed with respect to aldehyde. The reaction failed to induce the polymerization of acrylonitrile. There is no effect of hexamethylenetetramine on the reaction rate. The oxidation of [2H]benzaldehyde (PhCDO) indicated the presence of a substantial kinetic isotope effect. The effect of solvent composition indicated that the reaction rate increases with an increase in the polarity of the solvent. The rates of oxidation of meta- and para-substituted benzaldehydes showed excellent correlations in terms of Charton's triparametric LDR equation, whereas the oxidation of ortho-substituted benzaldehydes correlated well with tetraparametric LDRS equation. The oxidation of para-substituted benzaldehydes is more susceptible to the delocalization effect but the oxidation of ortho- and meta-substituted compounds displayed a greater dependence on the field effect. The positive value of γ suggests the presence of an electron-deficient reaction center in the rate-determining step. The reaction is subjected to steric acceleration when ortho-substituents are present. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 32: 615–622, 2000