Kinetics and mechanism of uncatalysed and ruthenium(III)-catalysed oxidation of d-panthenol by alkaline permanganate

The oxidation of d-panthenol by MnO4 (-) was studied in the absence and in the presence of ruthenium(III) catalyst in alkaline medium at 298 K and at constant ionic strength of 0.50 mol dm(-3) by spectrophotometry. The stoichiometry in both the cases was [panthenol]: [MnO4 (-)] = 1:4. The oxidation products were identified by IR and GC-MS. The reaction was first-order with respect to both MnO4 (-) and ruthenium(III), while the orders with respect to both panthenol and alkali varied from first order to zero order as the concentrations increased. The effects of added products, ionic strength and dielectric constant were studied. The reaction constants, activation parameters and thermodynamic quantities were calculated for both the uncatalysed and catalysed reactions.