Kinetics of basic hydrolysis of tris (1,10-phenanthroline) iron(11) in Triton X 100/hexanol/water reverse micelles in cyclohexane

The reaction shows completely different kinetic features at low and high W values. The pseudo first order rate constant (kobs) varies linearly with the effective concentration of sodium hydroxide in the water pool ([OH−]e) at high values of W (W = 14.0 and 10.6), on decreasing W, the kobs versus [OH−]e plots concave upwards showing higher order dependence of kobs on [OH−]e. The kinetics has been accounted for by a mechanism involving intermediate ion-pair formation between oppositely charged ions. The significant increase in rate in reverse micellar media as compared to aqueous media is due to the lower micropolarity of the waterpools in this reverse micellar media, which facilitates the ion-pair formation between oppositely charged ions.