Combination of Sodium Dodecylsulfate and 2,2 0 -Bipyridine for Hundred Fold Rate Enhancement of Chromium(VI) Oxidation of Malonic Acid at Room Temperature: A Greener Approach Susanta Malik 1 • Monohar Hossain Mondal 1,2 • Aniruddha Ghosh 1 • Sourav De 1 • Kalachand Mahali 3 • Shuvendu Sekhar Bhattacharyya 1 • Bidyut Saha 1 Received: 11 February 2016 / Accepted: 16 May 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract Chromic acid oxidation of malonic acid in aqueous media has been investigated spectrophotometrically at 303 K. The product glyoxylic acid has been characterized by 13 C-NMR and FTIR spectroscopy. Three representative N-heteroaromatic nitrogen base promoters, 2-picolinic acid, 2,2 0 -bipyridine (bpy) and 1,10-phenanthroline, in combination with the anionic surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) enhanced the rate of the oxidation reaction compared to the unpromoted reaction. 2,2 0 -Bipyridine produced the maximum rate enhancement of the three promoters used. The mechanism of the reaction has been proposed with the help of kinetic results and spectroscopic studies. The observed net enhancement of rate effects has been explained by considering the hydrophobic and electrostatic interaction between the surfactants and reactants. The SDS and bpy combi- nation is suitable for malonic acid oxidation. Keywords Oxidation  Chromium(VI)  Surfactant  Green chemistry 1 Introduction The development of greener reaction methods is an important goal in all areas of chem- istry. Oxidation is key reaction in organic synthesis and will likely play a significant role in the development of value added chemicals from biomass, which is a very much targeted area of scientists worldwide [1]. Among numerous oxidants chromium(VI) has frequently & Bidyut Saha b_saha31@rediffmail.com 1 Homogeneous Catalysis Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Burdwan, Burdwan, WB 713104, India 2 Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Government General Degree College at Kalna-I, Burdwan, WB 713405, India 3 Department of Chemistry, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, WB 741235, India 123 J Solution Chem DOI 10.1007/s10953-016-0494-6