Oxidation of some catecholamines by sodium N-chloro-p-toluenesulfonamide in acid medium: A kinetic and mechanistic approach

The kinetics of the oxidation of five catecholamines viz., dopamine (A), L-dopa (B), methyldopa (C), epinephrine (D) and norepinephrine (E) by sodium N-chloro-p-toluenesulfonamide or chloramine-T (CAT) in presence of HClO₄ was studied at 30±0.1 °C. The five reactions followed identical kinetics with a first-order dependence on [CAT] _o , fractional-order in [substrate] _o , and inverse fractional-order in [H⁺]. Under comparable experimental conditions, the rate of oxidation of catecholamines increases in the order D>E>A>B>C. The variation of ionic strength of the medium and the addition of p-toluenesulfonamide or halide ions had no significant effect on the reaction rate. The rate increased with decreasing dielectric constant of the medium. The solvent isotope effect was studied using D₂O. A Michaelis-Menten type mechanism has been suggested to explain the results. Equilibrium and decomposition constants for CAT-catecholamine complexes have been evaluated. CH₃C₆H₄SO₂NHCl of the oxidant has been postulated as the reactive oxidizing species and oxidation products were identified. An isokinetic relationship is observed with β=361 K, indicating that enthalpy factors control the reaction rate. The mechanism proposed and the derived rate law are consistent with the observed kinetics.