Comparative study of p-nitrophenyl picolinate hydrolysis catalyzed by Bis(O,O′-di(2-phenylalkyl)dithiophosphate) nickel(II)

The hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl picolinate (PNPP) catalyzed by two nickel (II) complexes (bis(O,O'-di(2-phenylmethyl) dithiophosphate) nickel(II) (NiR1) and bis(O,O'-di(2-phenylethyl) dithiophosphate) nickel(II) (NiR2)) was investigated kinetically in this work. The results indicate that both metal complexes accelerate the hydrolysis of PNPP dramatically and the NiR1 exhibits higher catalytic function on PNPP hydrolysis in the buffered solution with relatively low pH values, while NiR2 shows slightly more efficacy on hydrolysis of PNPP in relatively high pH buffered solutions. This variance is ascribed to the synergism effect of space hindrance of the complexes and the nucleophilic attack of metal-hydroxy species generated by the complexes.