Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of aquaethylenediaminetetraacetatocobaltate(II) by N-bromosuccinimide in aqueous acidic solution

The oxidation of aquaethylenediaminetetraacetatocobaltate(II) [Co(EDTA)(H2O)]−2 by N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in aqueous solution has been studied spectrophotometrically over the pH 6.10–7.02 range at 25 °C. The reaction is first-order with respect to complex and the oxidant, and it obeys the following rate law:\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$ {\text{Rate}} = k^{\text{et} } K_{ 2} K_{ 3} \left[ {{\text{Co}}^{\text{II}} \left( {\text{EDTA}} \right)\left( {{\text{H}}_{ 2} {\text{O}}} \right)^{ - 2} } \right]_{\text{T}} {{[{\text{NBS}}]} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{[{\text{NBS}}]} {\left( {\left[ {{\text{H}}^{ + } } \right]{ + }K_{ 2} } \right)}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\left( {\left[ {{\text{H}}^{ + } } \right]{ + }K_{ 2} } \right)}} $$\end{document}It is proposed that the electron transfer proceeds via an inner-sphere mechanism due to the formation of the initial cobalt(III), which is converted slowly to the final product.