Kinetics of Oxidation of Aliphatic Alcohols by Potassium Dichromate in Aqueous and Micellar Media

The kinetics of oxidation of four aliphatic alcohols in acidic aqueous and micellar media were investigated. The reaction was found to be first-order with respect to both alcohol and oxidant. Pseudo-first-order kinetics were found to be perfectly applicable with ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol while deviation was observed at intermediate stages of the reaction with methanol. The pseudo-first-order rate constants were found to be independent of concentration of the oxidant. The presence of TX-100 enhanced the rate of the reaction for all alcohols. Negative salt effects were observed with addition of KCl to the reaction mixture. A suitable mechanism for the reaction was suggested which agrees with the experimental findings.Keywords: Oxidation, dichromate, alcohol, pseudo-first-order, micellar effec