Synthesis and mechanistic studies on the aquation of selenitoaquobis(diamine)cobalt(III) complexes

Summary The kinetics of the aquation of four selenitoaquobisdiamine)cobalt(III) complexes to their respective diaquabis-(diamine)complexes (diamine=ethylenediamine en, propylenediamine pn, dimethylethylenediamine me₂en and trimethylenediamine tmd) have been carried out conductimetrically in the 25–45 °C range. All reactions exhibit simple first order kinetics, and the rates increase with increasing temperature. In aqueous solution, the complex species exist in equilibrium with their respective hydroxo species, but only the hydroxo species are involved in the aquation process. This result is also reflected in the linear Arrhenius plot. The rates are higher in a 10% alcoholic solution than in water, but then decrease with increase in the alcohol content. A Grunwald-Winstein plot of rates in methanol yields slopes of 0.18 ± 0.04, 0.27±0.03, 0.43±0.03 and 0.34±0.02 for the four amines respectively. A dissociation mechanism is proposed for the aquation of all these complexes.