INFLUENCE OF NANOPARTICLES ON METAL ION CATALYZED OXIDATION OF MODEL SUBSTRATES BY METHYLENE BLUE IN ACIDIC MEDIUM

The catalytic activity of metal ions is attributed to the formation and participation of metal nanoparticles in homogeneous - heterogeneous domain. Studies indicates a change in morphology of metal ion-substrate nanoparticles from nanorods to nanogranules on adding another metal ion to the reaction system. Metal ions have unique properties including redox/electron transfer and diverse oxidation states and coordination number due to which metal and metal compounds have tremendous potential and wide applications in various fields. The present paper highlights the interaction of bioactive sulfhydryl substrates, glutathione, cysteine hydrochloride and 2- mercaptoethylamine hydrochloride with methylene blue in acidic medium in a mole ratio of 2:1 forming the corresponding dihydromethylene disulfide and methylene blue (leucobase) in acidic medium. In the present system the catalytic property of metal ions is due to the formation of nanpoparticles & their multifacet involvement in metabolic pathways have attracted considerable attention. Thus, these studies, on metal nanoparticle, catalysed oxidation of model substrates paves the way to understand the complex chemistry of such systems.