A Novel Study of Kinetics and Mechanism of Iridium (III) Catalysed Oxidation of Alcohol by Cerium (IV) In Aqueous Acidic Media

Alcohols have many applications in pharmaceutical research and are used extensively at various phases during the drug development process. Alcohol is used in prediction of drug solubility from structure as solubility of drug is an important factor affecting its bioavailability.

In view of such varied importance of different alcohols, in the present study the Kinetics and mechanism of iridium (III) catalyused oxidation of alcohol by cerium (IV) in aqueous sulphuric acid medium have been investigated at different temperatures [Alcohol] > Ce (IV) > (I_R) (10^–5 mol/dm³) in 1 mol dm^–3 sulphuric acid medium. The reactions are found to be the zero order with respect to Ce (IV) ion. From the [HSO₄] dependence, Ce (IV) has been found kinetically active the proposed mechanism involves a pre-equilibrium interaction between the catalyst and substrate. The process is acid catalysed. Activation parameters have been determined to investigate the effect of temperature; and probable rate law and mechanism has been proposed.