The kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of seleno-DL- methionine by potassium ferrate

The kinetics of the reaction of seleno-DL-methionine with potassium ferrate were investigated under pseudo first-order conditions. The oxidation to the selenoxide is complete within the timeframe of 7.5ms to 2s. The kinetics are first-order in each of the hydrogen ion, selenomethionine and ferrate ion concentrations over the pH range 8.53 to 10.13, but zeroth-order in hydrogen ion concentration at lower pH values. The results are very similar for methionine, except that the overall rate constant is over two orders of magnitude lower. The proposed mechanism involves a rate- determining step between selenomethionine and the protonated ferrate ion.