Kinetic study of Ru(III) – catalyzed oxidation of L-phenylalanine by hexacyanoferrate(III) in an anionic surfactant medium

Abstract The kinetic investigation of Ru(III) promoted oxidation of L-phenylalanine (L-PheAla) by [Fe(CN)6]3− has been performed in anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micellar medium by recording the decrease in absorbance at 420 nm corresponding to [Fe(CN)6]3− using an UV–visible spectrophotometer. Using the pseudo-first-order condition, the course of the reaction was studied as a function of [Fe(CN)63−], ionic strength, [OH−], [SDS], [Ru3+], [L-PheAla] and temperature by changing one variable at a time. The results exhibit that [OH−], [SDS], and [L-PheAla] are the crucial parameters that have an appreciable influence on the reaction rate. The reaction exhibits first-order kinetics in concentration ranges of Ru(III), [Fe(CN)6]3− and at low [L-PheAla] and [OH−] concentrations. The incremental trend observed in the reaction rate with electrolyte concentration shows a positive salt effect. The reaction rate is almost 10 times faster in SDS micellar medium than in aqueous medium. [Fe(CN)6]3− has no appreciable effect on the CMC of SDS, since the polar head of SDS and [Fe(CN)6]3− are both negatively charged. The K+ obtained from K3[Fe(CN)6] and KNO3 decreases the repulsion between the negatively charged heads of the surfactant molecules, which decreases the CMC of SDS. The activation parameters also support the outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism.