Study of equilibria and kinetics of the acid catalysed interaction of iron(III) with salicylaldehyde ando-hydroxyacetophenone

The equilibria and kinetics of the reaction of Fe^III with salicylaldehyde ando-hydroxyacetophenone, leading to 1∶1 chelate formation, have been studied at different temperatures (25–35°C) and ionic strength, I = 1.0 mol dm⁻³ (NaClO₄+HClO₄). A dual path mechanism involving both Fe _aq ³⁺ and Fe(OH) _aq ²⁺ species and undissociated free ligand (LH) is consistent with the experimental observations where H⁺]≫Fe]_T≫L]_T (where Fe]_T and L]_T stand for total concentrations of iron and ligand respectively). The results conform to k_obs/B = k₁H⁺]+k₂K_h where B = Fe]_T/(K_h+H⁺])+1/Q; K_h = hydrolysis constant of Fe _aq ³⁺ ; k₁, k₂ are the forward second order rate constants of Fe _aq ³⁺ and Fe(OH) _aq ²⁺ , respectively, and Q is the equilibrium constant of the reaction, Fe³⁺+LH⇋FeL²⁺+H⁺. Thermodynamic parameters for each of the steps have been determined. Fe(OH) _aq ²⁺ appears to react in a dissociative fashion (Eigen-Tamm mechanism), whilst Fe _aq ³⁺ appears to react through the associative inter-change (I_a) mechanism. The equilibrium constants (Q) obtained spectrophotometrically are compared with those obtained from kinetic studies. TMC 2638