Kinetics of oxidation of thiocyanate ion by manganese(III) in pyrophosphate medium

Summary Mn^III is stabilized by pyrophosphate in weakly acidic solutions. The nature of the complex formed was elucidated spectrophotometrically. The kinetics of Mn^III oxidation of thiocyanate in pyrophosphate medium was investigated over the pH range 2–3. The oxidation followed first order kinetics with Mn^III]. The effects of varying Mn^III], NCS^–], added Mn^II and metal ions, pH, total P₂O _f7 ^p4– ] and added ClO _f4 ^p– , Cl^– and SO _f4 ^p2– were studied. The order in NCS^–] was unity, and increasing H⁺] increased the rate. Retardations with added P₂O _f7 ^p4– and Mn^II were observed. Complexation of NCS^– as K₂Zn(NCS)₄ decreased the reactivity without any change in overall mechanism. The dependence of the reaction rate on temperature was examined, and activation parameters were computed from Arrhenius and Eyring plots. A mechanism consistent with the results is proposed.