In reverse micelle systems, a large enhancement of the oxidation ability of dilute nitric acid was discovered, and its oxidation mechanism was explored. The Br À ion in the surfactant, CTAB, was oxidized to Br 2 (or Br 3 À ) in the CHCl 3 / CTAB/H 2 O reverse micelle system with W ¼ 1:0{4:0 by diluted nitric acid (0.25-2.5 mol dm À3 in 1.0 vol % H 2 O portion) at 15-40 C where CTAB stands for cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, and the W value is the ratio of [. At higher concentrations of nitric acid and temperatures, faster reactions occurred. Otherwise, long reaction times were needed, e.g., 10 h for 1.0 mol dm À3 HNO 3 at 25 C. Light or ambient oxygen did not appear to affect the reaction. The ratio of produced Br 2 or (Br 3 À ) to the initial amount of HNO 3 indicated the following reaction scheme:The nitroyl ion (or nitronium ion), NO 2 þ , was proposed as the intermediate active species. The addition of HClO 4 as a proton source caused the complete reduction of N(V) as follows: The nitrate ion has high chemical stability, especially at low concentrations. Standard redox potentials indicate that it should serve as an excellent oxidizing agent, but in order to react with suitable reactants to form elemental nitrogen or ammonia, special conditions are required, such as the presence of catalysts and high temperature and pressure.1 Concentrated nitric acid has strong oxidation ability, although dilute nitric acid in aqueous solution at room temperature exhibits no apparent oxidation trend. Cotton and Wilkinson have described that nitric acid with a concentration of less than 2 mol dm À3 has almost no oxidation ability.2 Mixtures of concentrated nitric acid and sulfuric acid (''mixed acid'') are used for nitration of organic compounds, and the nitroyl ion (or nitronium ion) NO 2 þ is regarded as the active intermediate. 3 Raman spectra of NO 2 þ have been observed in solution 4 as well as in the solid state.5 Using 14 N NMR, Ross et al. 6 have examined the nitric acid/nitronium ion equilibrium in aqueous sulfuric acid. Dimeric nitric acid, (HNO 3 ) 2 or (DNO 3 ) 2 , was detected by FTIR in HNO 3 or DNO 3 :H 2 O:Ar matrices. 7 We have been studying the structure of water in nanoscale water-droplets of reverse micelles, stabilized by surfactants in organic solvents. 8 The size of the ''water-pool'' or ''water-droplet'' may vary from 1 to %100 8 It is well known that the properties of water localized in the interior of reverse micelles differ from those of bulk water, and the difference becomes progressively smaller as the amount of water in the micelle system increases.10