Kinetics and Mechanism of the Autocatalytic Oxidation of L-Asparagine in a Moderately Concentrated Sulfuric Acid Medium

The reaction kinetics of the Autocatalytic Oxidation of L-asparagine by permanganate ions has been investigated in moderately strong acid medium using the spectrophotometric technique. In all cases studied, an autocatalytic effect due to Mn²⁺ ions formed as a reaction product was observed. Both catalytic and noncatalytic processes were determined to be first order with respect to the permanganate ions while a first and a fractional order with respect to the amino acid for noncatalytic and catalytic reactions were obtained, respectively. The overall rate equation for this process may be written asdMO₄ ^–]/dt= k´₁MnO₄ ^–]+k´₂MnO₄ ^–]Mn⁺²],where k´₁ and k´₂ are rate pseudoconstants for noncatalytic and catalytic reactions, respectively. The influence of some factors such as temperature and reactant concentration on the rate constants has been studied, and the activation parameters have been calculated. Reaction mechanisms satisfying observations for both catalytic and noncatalytic routes have been presented.