Effect of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide micelles on the ionic equilibrium and the reactivity of hydrogen peroxide toward electrophilic substrates

The acid-base equilibrium of hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solutions of CTAB and the reactivity of the peroxide anion toward 4-nitrophenyl diethylphosphate and 4-toluenesulfonate were studied. It was shown that the acid ionization rate constant of hydrogen peroxide is increased by three times with increase in the CTAB concentration from 0 to 0.03 M. This makes it possible to realize the decomposition of the substrates by their reaction with the peroxide anion at lower pH values in micellar cationic systems than in aqueous solutions. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i éksperimental’naya Khimiya, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 83–89, March–April, 2008.