Kinetic study of the promazine oxidation to promazine 5-oxide by trisoxalatocobaltate(III) in basic aqueous media

The kinetics of the oxidation of promazine by trisoxalatocobaltate(III) were studied in the presence of a large excess of the cobalt(III) in tris buffer solution using u.v.–vis spectroscopy (Co^III] = (0.6 − 2) × 10⁻³ M, ptz] = 6 × 10⁻⁵ M, pH = 6.6–7.8, I = 0.1 M (NaCl), T = 288−308 K, l = 1 cm). The reaction proceeds via two consecutive reversible steps. In the first step, the reaction leads to formation of cobalt(II) species and a stable cationic radical. In the second step, cobalt(III) is reduced to cobalt(II) ion and a promazine radical is oxidized to the promazine 5-oxide. Linear dependences of the pseudo-first-order rate constants (k ₁ and k ₂) on Co^III] with a non-zero intercept were established for both redox processes. Rates of reactions decreased with increasing concentration of the H⁺ ion indicating that the promazine and its radical exist in equilibrium with their deprotonated forms, which are reactive reducing species. The activation parameters for reactions studied were as follows: ΔH^≠ = 44 ± 1 kJ mol⁻¹, ΔS^≠ = −100 ± 4 JK⁻¹ mol⁻¹ for the first step and ΔH^≠ = 25 ± 1 kJ mol⁻¹, ΔS^≠ = −169 ± 4 J K⁻¹ mol⁻¹ for the second step, respectively. Mechanistic consequences of all the results are discussed.