Kinetics of the reaction between para-benzoquinone and cobalt(II)EDTA complex-micellar effect of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide

Para-benzoquinone oxidizes cobalt(II) EDTA (which exists mainly in the form, CoYH2O2-) to form a cobalt(III) complex. The reaction obeys first order kinetics in either reactant and is inhibited by hydrogen ion, The kinetic results lead to the evaluation of the protonation constant of the equilibrium. CoH2OY2- + H+ reversible arrow CoH2OHY1- The reaction is accelerated by cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide. The rate-surfactant profile exhibits a maximum. The results show that the surfactant has accelerating effect even at concentrations lower than cmc showing that submicellar aggregates of CTAB also have accelerating effect.