Room Temperature Micellar Catalysis on Permanganate Oxidation of Butanol to Butanal in Aqueous Medium at Atmospheric Pressure

Abstract Oxidation kinetics of 1-butanol by permanganate have been carried out in the presence of surfactant in aqueous acidic medium to observe the micellar effect on rate. The oxidation kinetics were studied by UV–VIS spectrophotometry. The presence of cationic N -cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) micelles was found to accelerate the reaction rate and this effect has been explained by the partitioning of the reactants in micelle and also by considering the hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions between the surfactant and reactants. The alcohol was quantitatively oxidized to the carbonyl compound, which was identified by the preparation of 2,4-DNP derivatives. The probable mechanism is proposed and pseudo-first-order rate constants are calculated. The cationic surfactant (CPC) accelerates the reaction. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) value of the CPC micelle has been determined from the plot of rate constant values at different CPC concentration.