Kinetics and mechanisms of alkaline permanganate oxidation of L(+) aspartic acid

The kinetics of oxidation of L(+) aspartic acid in aqueous alkaline medium at a constant ionic strength of 2.0 mol dm(-3) has been studied spectrophotometrically at 526 nm. The reaction exhibits first order each in [permanganate ion] and [L(+) aspartic acid] and less than unity in [alkali]. The rate of the reaction increases with the increase in the percentage of t-butyl alcohol in the reaction mixture and also with the increase in the concentration of sodium perchlorate. The mechanism has been proposed on the basis of kinetics and other results and the reaction constants involved have been evaluated. The activation parameters for the slow step of the reaction have been calculated and discussed.