Kinetics and Mechanism of the Reactions of Picolinic Acid with Dichloro-{1-alkyl-2-(arylazo)imidazole}palladium(II) Complexes

Abstract

The reaction between Pd(N,N′)Cl2 [N,N′ ≡ 1-alkyl-2-(arylazo)imidazole (N,N′) and picolinic acid (picH) have been studied spectrophotometrically at λ = 463 nm in MeCN at 298 K. The product is [Pd(pic)2] which has been verified by the synthesis of the pure compound from Na2[PdCl4] and picH. The kinetics of the nucleophilic substitution reaction have been studied under pseudo-first-order conditions. The reaction proceeds in a two-step-consecutive manner (A → B → C); each step follows first order kinetics with respect to each complex and picH where the rate equations are: Rate 1 = {k′0 + k′2[picH]0} × [Pd(N,N′)Cl2] and Rate 2 = {k′′0 + k′′2[picH]0}[Pd(N,O)(monodentate N,N′)Cl2] such that the first step second order rate constant (k′2) is greater than the second step second order rate constant (k′′2). External addition of Cl− (as LiCl) suppresses the rate. Increase in π-acidity of the N,N′ ligand, increases the rate. The reaction has been studied at different temperatures and the activation parameters (Δ‡H° and Δ‡S°) were calculated from the Eyring plot.