Kinetics and Mechanism of the Oxidation of Alkanes and Alkenes with Peroxynitrous Acid in Aqueous Solution-Gas Phase Systems

The reactions of alkane and alkene oxidation with peroxynitrous acid (HOONO) in aqueous solution-gas phase systems were studied using a modified kinetic distribution method. The rate constants of oxidation of hydrocarbons (RH) were found to be unusual bell-shaped functions of the volume ratio between liquid and gas phases in a reactor. This result, as well as the previously found proportionality of the rate constants of the gas-phase RH + HOONO and RH + OH^· reactions for alkanes, alkenes, and alkylbenzenes, was quantitatively interpreted assuming the rapid equilibrium distribution of HOONO and RH between a gas and a solution, the formation of OH^· radicals in the two phases, and the interaction of these radicals with RH. The rate constant of peroxynitrous acid decomposition in the gas phase and the distribution coefficient of this acid between the gas phase and solution α = (0.4–2) × 10⁻⁶ were estimated. The capacity of HOONO for partition between different phases and for generation of OH^· radicals in either of these phases can be of paramount importance for understanding the mechanism of lipid membrane oxidation initiated by peroxynitrous acid.__________Translated from Kinetika i Kataliz, Vol. 46, No. 3, 2005, pp. 370–379.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Lobachev, Rudakov.