Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxidation of Aniline and Substituted Anilines by Isoquinolinium Bromochromate in Aqueous Acetic Acid

Oxidation of anilines by isoquinolinium bromochromate (IQBC) in aqueous acetic acid leads to the formation of corresponding azobenzenes. The reaction is first order with respect to both aniline and IQBC and is catalyzed by hydrogen ion. The rate of oxidation decreases with increasing dielectric constant of solvent, indicating the presence of an ion-dipole interaction. The rate of oxidation decreases with increase in concentration of KCl, possibly due to the formation of less reactive species by interaction of Cl- and protonated IQBC. The specific rate of oxidizing species anilines reaction correlates with substituents constant affording a negative reaction constant. Hammett plot is found to be valid and the correlation between enthalpies and free energies of activation is reasonably linear with an isokinetic temperature of 401 K.