Kinetics and Mechanism of the Oxidation of Propan-1-ol and Propan-2-ol by Permanganate in the Absence and Presence of Tween-20 in Perchloric Acid Medium

The kinetics of the oxidation of propan-1-ol and propan-2-ol by KMnO₄ in HClO₄ medium has been studied in absence and presence of Tween-20. In the absence of Tween-20 the reaction is of first order with respect to each of permanganate and H⁺, but of complex order with respect to substrate. The active oxidant species HMnO₄ reacts with the alkanol molecule to form an intermediate complex, which decomposes in the rate-determining step to form the respective product and Mn^v. In the presence of Tween-20, both the oxidant and the substrate are distributed between the aqueous phase and the micellar pseudo-phase and then react. Different kinetic and thermodynamic parameters have been evaluated. Compensation between water structure destruction and substrate–micelle interaction plays an important role in the presence of the surfactant.