Lm. Rebenne et al., AQUEOUS CHLORINATION KINETICS AND MECHANISM OF SUBSTITUTED DIHYDROXYBENZENES, Environmental science & technology, 30(7), 1996, pp. 2235-2242
The initial chlorination kinetics of several substituted dihydroxybenz
enes, including chlorinated resorcinol compounds, was studied over the
pH range of 2-12 at 22 degrees C. For each of the resorcinol substrat
es, the apparent chlorination rates are a minimum in the pH range of 3
-6 and a maximum at pH values between 8-11. A mechanism that involves
the reaction of HOCl with ArX(OH)(2), ArX(OHO-, and ArX(O-)(2), and an
acid-catalyzed pathway at pH < 4 was proposed to explain this pH depe
ndence. Over natural water pH conditions, the reactions of HOCl with t
he anion and dianion forms of resorcinol groups are the most important
. Although the intrinsic reactivity of HOCl with resorcinol substrates
decreases with the extent of chlorine substitution on aromatic ring,
the apparent reactivity of HOCl increases for more chlorinated resorci
nols. In the presence of excess HOCl, monochloro- and dichloro resorci
nol intermediates, therefore, should not accumulate when resorcinol gr
oups undergo chlorine substitution. Linear free energy relationships f
or the reactivity of HOCl with resorcinols and phenols were developed.
The sequential chlorination kinetics of resorcinol up to trichlorores
orcinol can now be modeled.