Pathways in permanganate oxidation of mandelic acid: reactivity and selectivity of intermediate manganese species.

We report a comprehensive kinetic and product study of the oxidation of mandelic acid (MA) by permanganate in the pH range of 1-13, including a full account of total oxidizing equivalents (five and three-electron change in acidic and basic media, respectively). In the entire pH range, the reaction shows a primary kinetic deuterium isotope effect (kH/kD ≥8-9), indicating rate-limiting hydride transfer. The deuterium label in α-deutero-mandelic acid is retained in benzaldehyde. Benzaldehyde (BZ) is formed in post-rate limiting steps due to reactions involving manganese intermediates. In alkaline pH (≥13), in the presence of barium acetate, Mn(VI) is removed as insoluble blue barium manganate; the stoichiometry of the first step of reduction was found to be: MA + 2Mn(VII) → PGA + 2Mn(VI). Manganate, MnO42-, is directly reduced to MnO2 giving an additional mole of phenylglyoxylic acid (PGA). The experimentally observed ratio of benzaldehyde to phenylglyoxylic (BZ/PGA) provides a basis for discrimination between mechanistic choices that include direct reduction of Mn(V) to Mn(III) (in an acidic medium), disproportionation to Mn(IV) and Mn(VI) or oxidation to Mn(VI) by a second mole of permanganate. Interestingly, at pH 4, a stoichiometric, soluble Mn(IV) is observed for the first time for hydroxy-acid oxidation, reminiscent of the Guyard reaction. Because of the widespread use of permanganate as an environmentally green oxidant, results from mandelic acid oxidation have implications for the remediation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) including hydrocarbons and nitroaromatics in waste and groundwater.

Electron paramagnetic resonance characterization and electron spin relaxation of manganate ion in glassy alkaline LiCl solution and doped into Cs2SO4.

Manganate ion, MnO42-, has important roles in catalysis and potential roles in water treatment. EPR spectra of MnO42- in a glassy alkaline solution of concentrated LiCl at X-band and Q-band at 80 K exhibit g1 = 1.9776 ± 0.001, g2 = 1.9677 ± 0.001, g3 = 1.9560 ± 0.001 and A1 = 182 ± 9, A2 = 275 ± 15, and A3 = 400 ± 15 MHz. In Cs2SO4 the spectra were simulated with 1.908 ± 0.001, g2 = 1.909 ± 0.001, g3 = 1.937 ± 0.001 and A1 = 90 ± 20, A2 = 100 ± 20, and A3 = 400 ± 15 MHz. Simulations required large distributions in A values which suggests that hyperfine splittings are sensitive to differences in geometry. Continuous wave spectra are observable at 80 K in glassy alkaline LiCl, but only up to about 20 K in Cs2SO4. In glassy alkaline LiCl electron spin relaxation was measured at X-band using spin echo and inversion recovery from 4.2 to 60 K. Tm is 4.6 µs at 4.2 K and decreases at higher temperatures as it becomes driven by T1. T1 decreases from ca. 34 ms at 4.2 K to ca. 240 ns at 60 K. Tm and T1 in Cs2SO4 are too short to measure by electron spin echo. The distorted tetrahedral geometry of MnO42- results in faster relaxation than for other 3d1 spin systems that have square pyramidal (C4v) or distorted octahedral geometries.

Two-electron redox chemistry of p-nitro- and p-cyanobenzene diazohydroxides.

The electrochemistry of aryl diazonium salts is usually dominated by one-electron reduction, loss of dinitrogen, and the grafting of aryl radicals onto the electrode. In contrast, p-nitro- and p-cyanobenzene diazonium salts dissolved in mixed aqueous-acetonitrile solvents showed diffusion-limited, quasi-reversible, two-electron cyclic voltammetry. Voltammetric pH-dependence and spectrophotometric kinetic studies suggest that the basicity and low polarity of the aqueous solvent mixture has revealed the biologically-significant interconversion of diazohydroxide and diazene.

Synthesis of a pyridinium bis[citrato(2-)]oxochromate(V) complex and its ligand-exchange reactions.

The reaction of citric acid (caH(4)) with pyridinium dichromate (PDC) in anhydrous acetone yields pyridinium bis[citrato(2-)]oxochromate(V), pyH[CrO(caH(2))(2)], as a mixed salt with the Cr(III) product. The compound persists in the solid state for months, is highly soluble in water (pH 4.0), and gives a sharp electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal in solution (g(iso) = 1.9781, A(iso)(Cr) = 17.1 x 10(-4) cm(-1)), which is characteristic of d(1) Cr(V). The presence of [Cr(V)O(caH(2))(2)](-) in the solid state was confirmed by electrospray mass spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), and EPR spectroscopy. Solid-state EPR spectroscopy, XANES, and a spectrophotometric assay showed that the solid is a mixture of [Cr(V)O(caH(2))(2)](-) and a Cr(III)-citrate complex. The structures of the [Cr(V)O(caH(2))(2)](-) and [Cr(III)(caH(2))(2)](-) components of the mixture were established by multiple-scattering MS analysis of the X-ray absorption fine structure data. The structure of [Cr(V)O(caH(2))(2)](-) is similar to that of other 2-hydroxy acid complexes with Cr=O, Cr-O(alcoholato), and Cr-O(carboxylato) bond lengths of 1.59, 1.81, and 1.90 A, respectively. The Cr(III) complex has bond lengths typical for ligands with deprotonated carboxylate and protonated alcohol donors with distances of 1.90 and 1.99 A, respectively, for the Cr-O(carboxylato) and Cr-O(alcohol) bond lengths. In aqueous solution, [CrO(caH(2))(2)](-) is short lived, but it is a convenient starting material for ligand-exchange reactions. It has been used to generate short-lived mixed-ligand Cr(V) complexes with citrate and picolinate, iminodiacetate, 2,2'-bipyridine, or 1,10-phenanthroline, which were characterized by EPR spectroscopy. The g values are between 1.971 and 1.974. For the picolinate, 2,2'-bipyridine, and 1,10-phenanthroline mixed-ligand complexes, there is hyperfine coupling (2.2 x 10(-4) to 2.4 x 10(-4) cm(-1)) to a single proton of the citrate ligand.

Electron Spin Relaxation in Chromium-Nitrosyl Complexes.

A new method to prepare Cr(NO)(H(2)O)(5)(2+) from dichromate and NH(2)OH is reported. The chromium nitrosyls Cr(NO)(EHBA)(+) and Cr(NO)(EHBA)(2) (EHBA = 2-ethyl-2-hydoxybutyrate) were prepared by a literature reaction and characterized by continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance and two-pulse electron spin echo spectroscopy at X-band. The g values are characteristic of a single unpaired electron in a predominantly d(xy)() orbital. In fluid and glassy solutions Cr(NO)(EHBA)(2) is a mixture of cis and trans isomers. Rotation of the methyl groups in the EHBA ligands causes an increased rate of spin echo dephasing at temperatures between 40 and 120 K. For the EHBA complexes echo envelope modulation is observed at temperatures below about 40 K that is attributed to inequivalent coupling to protons of the slowly rotating methyl groups. Both the effect of the methyl rotation on spin echo dephasing and the depth of the proton modulation are dependent on the number of ethyl groups in the ligand, and thus the spin echo experiments provide confirmation of the number of EHBA ligands in the complexes. The spin-lattice relaxation rates for the chromium-nitrosyl complexes at temperatures near 100 K are similar to values reported previously for Cr(V) complexes, which also have a single unpaired electron in a predominantly d(xy)() orbital. For Cr(NO)(H(2)O)(5)(2+), Cr(NO)(EHBA)(+), and Cr(NO)(EHBA)(2) the dominant contribution to spin-lattice relaxation between 12 and 150 K is the Raman process with a Debye temperature, theta(D), of 110-120 K. For Cr(NO)(CN)(5)(3)(-) the data are consistent with a Raman process (theta(D) = 135 K) and a contribution from a local mode, which dominates above about 60 K. The formally low-spin d(5) chromium nitrosyl complexes relax about 5 orders of magnitude more slowly than low-spin d(5) Fe(III) porphyrins, which is attributed to the absence of a low-lying excited state.