Kinetic Studies of Catalytic Oxidation of Cyclohexene Using Chromium VI Oxide in Acetic Acid Medium

Cyclohexene was oxidized using chromium (VI) oxide (CrO3) in pure acetic acid medium. The products of oxidation were analysed using simple qualitative analysis, IR spectroscopy and Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Kinetics studies were carried out to determine the order of reaction, rate constant and the activation energy with respect to the oxidant using pseudo-order approximation method. The influence of Cu2+, Co2+ and Fe2+ as catalysts were also investigated. Qualitative analyses of the products revealed the presence alcohols and ketones while the GC/MS shows the presence of cyclohexanol (2.46%), cyclohexanone (5.05%), 2-cyclohexen-1-one (59.37%), 1,2-cyclohexanediol monoacetate (9.88%), 2-hydroxy-cyclohexanone (1.75%) and bi-2-cyclohexen-1-yl (5.16%). The reaction order was shown to be 2nd order with respect to the CrO3 with activation energy of 45.32 kJ mol-1 while Co2+ and Fe2+ indicated some catalytic activity on the reaction.