Kinetics and mechanism of electron transfer processes in a hydrogen peroxide—trispicolinatoruthenate(II) system

Oxidation of trispicolinatoruthenate(II) complex by hydrogen peroxide leads to the formation of mer-trispicolinatoruthenium(III) in acidic or neutral solutions. Kinetics of the reaction were studied under a large excess of H2O2 at constant pH. The initial rate method gives a rate expression of the form: - d[Ru(II)]/dt = kII [H₂ O₂ ][Ru(II)] but the overall process examined till completion is far more complex. The rate of the reaction decreases with increasing pH to be practically completely retarded in alkaline media. The key step in the proposed reaction mechanism is the picolinato chelate ring opening followed by the substitution of the coordinated water by H2O2 and two-electron intramolecular ruthenium(II) oxidation. Formation of the final ruthenium(III) complex is assigned rather to the ruthenium(IV) reduction by H2O2 than ruthenium(II)–ruthenium(IV) comproportionation. The obtained results show the much slower rate of the trispicolinatoruthenate(II) oxidation by hydrogen peroxide or dioxygen than the mer-trispicolinatoruthenium(III) reduction by such bioreductants as cytochrome cII or some cobalt(II) reductants.