Starch-poly(acrylic acid)-Cu(II) Based Catalyst for Kinetic Studies in Epinephrine Oxidation

Starch-poly (acrylic acid) hydrogel was synthesized via free radical polymerization reaction technique under mild conditions. Synthesized hydrogel was used as template for in situ metal ion complexes preparation by using CuCl2.6H2O in H2O. Starch-poly (acrylic acid)-CuII heterogeneous catalyst system comprised of copper ions embedded within hydrogel matrices has been employed for the oxidation of epinephrine in aqueous media. The epinephrine was partially oxidized to adrenochrome by St-p(AA)-Cu(II)/H2O2 hydrogel composite system. About 43.0% of epinephrine was conversion to adrenochrome in less than 30 min. The kinetics of the processes was pseudo-first-order kinetic model. EP oxidation reaction provides mild activation energies, 48.56 kj.mol-1.