The Rate of the Oxygen Absorption by the Styrene Epoxide–p-Toluene Sulfonic Acid Double System Depending on the Structure of the Aliphatic Tail of the Alcohol Solvent.

Oxygen oxidation of the styrene epoxide (SE)–p-toluene sulfonic acid (TSA) double system (DS) in solutions of three primary alcohols, 1-octanol (OCT), n-butanol (BUT), and ethanol (ET), is studied. The corresponding concentration expressions of oxidation rates are as follows: V_OCT = k [SE]⁰ [TSA]¹, V_BUT = k [SE]⁰ [TSA]^0.63, and V_ET = k [SE]⁰ [TSA]^0.7 at [SE] [TSA]. The proximity of the oxidation activation energies in three alcohols contrasts with the difference in the oxidation rates: the oxidation rate in ET is three times the rate in n-butanol and thirty times the oxidation rate in 1-octanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]