Journal of Thermodynamics & Catalysis
Open Access

Abstract

Micellar Catalysis on 1,10-Phenanthroline Promoted Chromic Acid Oxidation of Dimethyl Sulfoxide to Dimethyl Sulfone in Aqueous Media at Room Temperature

Rumki N, Aniruddha G, Susanta M and Bidyut Saha

The monomeric species of Cr(VI) was found to be kinetically active in the absence of 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) under pseudo-first order conditions, whereas in the 1,10-phenanthroline promoted path, the Cr(VI)-phenanthroline complex undergoes a nucleophilic attack by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to form a ternary complex which subsequently undergoes a redox decomposition leading to dimethyl sulfone and Cr(III)-phenanthroline complex. A detailed study was done to investigate the effect of cationic surfactant N-cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and neutral surfactant (TX-100) on the phen promoted chromic acid oxidation of DMSO in aqueous media at 30°C. The aggregation and morphology of the micelles formed by the surfactants were studied by optical microscope and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). 1,10-phenanthroline in association with SDS micelle exhibited almost 70-fold rate enhancements compared to the uncatalyzed reaction path.