Electrochemical Behavior of Anthraquinone in Reverse Micelles and Microemulsions of Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide

The electrochemical behavior of an anthraquinone (AQ) was studied in aqueous solutions at a glassy carbon electrode, using the sodium salt of anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid (AQS), by employing cyclic voltammetry. AQ undergoes a two-electron reduction in aqueous media. The electrochemical behavior of AQ was also investigated in micelles, reverse micelles (CTAB/1-butanol/water), and microemulsions (CTAB/1-butanol/water/cyclohexane) of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The electrode reactions of AQ in reverse micelles and microemulsions are nearly reversible at low oil (cyclohexane) content. However, at higher oil content, the reversibility is gradually lost. In the case of reverse micelles, the reduction current, as well as the reduction potential, of AQ depend on the transition from a micellar solution to a stable solution of reverse micelles that occurs with added 1-butanol. In microemulsions, the change in cyclohexane content was found to cause a linear increase in the peak current for AQ reduction as well as a linear decrease in the corresponding reduction potential. As the cyclohexane content is increased, the o/w microemulsions dominated by micelles undergo a transition to a w/o microemulsion dominated by reverse micelles, which causes changes in the electrochemical behavior.