Kinetics and mechanism of iridium (III) catalysed oxidation of tellurium (IV) by manganese (III) in sulphuric acid medium

The kinetics and mechanism of iridium (III) catalysed oxidation of tellurium (IV) by manganese (III) have been studied in sulphuric acid medium. The reaction is zero order in tellurium (IV), fractional order in manganese (III) and first order in iridium (III). While the products manganese (II) and tellurium (VI), ionic strength and HSO - 4 have negligible effect, the rate increases linearly with increasing [H 3 O + ]. A rate law, consistent with the observed kinetic data, was derived basing on the proposed mechanism.