The Fenton Reaction in Aerated Aqueous Solutions Revisited

The oxidation of alcohols in aerated acidic aqueous solutions by the Fenton reagent is a chain reaction. The length of the chain depends linearly on the number of CHnOR (n = 1 or 2) groups in the alcohol. The reaction is accelerated by increasing the concentration of Fe(H2O)62+, but this cation is a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2005-07, Vol.2005 (14), p.2875-2880
Main Authors: Rachmilovich-Calis, Sandra, Masarwa, Alexandra, Meyerstein, Naomi, Meyerstein, Dan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohols
Chain reactions
Dioxygen
Fenton reaction
Iron
Oxidation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The oxidation of alcohols in aerated acidic aqueous solutions by the Fenton reagent is a chain reaction. The length of the chain depends linearly on the number of CHnOR (n = 1 or 2) groups in the alcohol. The reaction is accelerated by increasing the concentration of Fe(H2O)62+, but this cation is also active in at least one of the termination steps of the chain reaction. Addition of ethanol to a solution containing sucrose shortens the chain length. Saturation with dioxygen, instead of air, increases the chain length. An increase in alcohol concentration increases the chain length up to a limiting value. A complicated mechanism, which is in agreement with all these observations, is proposed. However, efforts to simulate the mechanism succeed only in simulating the Fe(H2O)63+ yield, but indicate that the observed process is considerably faster than the predicted one. In the latter the rate‐determining step is the Fenton reaction, the rate constant of which is well known. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005)
ISSN:1434-1948
1099-0682
DOI:10.1002/ejic.200500097