Influence of the acidity on the kinetics of diphenylamine oxidation by peroxodisulfate anions
A kinetic study is reported on the oxidation of diphenylamine (DPA) by peroxodisulfate (PDS) anions in H2SO4 and buffered acetic acid – acetate 20% v/v methanol–water media. The primary detectable product of the reaction is N-phenyl-p-benzoquinoneimine (PBQ), which undergoes acid-catalyzed hydrolysis giving different decomposition products. At pH > 4 (acetic acid – acetate buffers) the hydrolytic decomposition is very slow and it does not interfere with PBQ formation, but in H2SO4 media of pH < 2.5, PBQ decomposes as it is formed. In these media, the reaction obeys the kinetic rate law:[Formula: see text]a, the kinetic parameter, being acid dependent. Neither radical promoters (Ag+) nor radical traps (allyl alcohol) influence the reaction rate. In acetic acid – acetate buffers of pH > 4 the kinetic rate law is simple: first order in each one of the reactants, and acid independent. These results have been interpreted by assuming the formation, in a preequilibrium step, of an N-diphenylhydroxylamine-O-sulfonate intermediate, which further rearranges to yield PBQ. The rate-determining step of the reaction changes with the protonation state of the intermediate, whose protonation pKa has been kinetically estimated as 2.4.