Electroreduction of Aryldiazonium Ion at the Polar and Non-Polar Faces of ZnO: Characterisation of the Grafted Films and Their Influence on Near-Surface Band Bending

ZnO is a strong candidate for transparent electronic devices due to its wide band gap and earth-abundance, yet its practical use is limited by its surface metallicity arising from a surface electron accumulation layer (SEAL). The SEAL forms by hydroxylation of the surface under normal atmospheric conditions, and is present at all crystal faces of ZnO, although with differing hydroxyl structures. Multilayer aryl films grafted from aryldiazonium salts have previously been shown to decrease the downward bending at O-polar ZnO thin films, with Zn−O−C bonds anchoring the aryl films to the substrate. Herein we show that the Zn-polar (0001), O-polar (000 ), and non-polar m-plane (10 0) faces of ZnO single crystals, can also be successfully electrografted with nitrophenyl (NP) films. In all cases, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements reveal that the downward surface band bending decreases after modification. XPS provides strong evidence for Zn−O−C bonding at each face. Electrochemical reduction of NP films on O-polar ZnO single crystals converts the film to a mainly aminophenyl layer, although with negligible further change in band bending. This contrasts with the large upward shifts in band bending caused by X-ray induced reduction.     

氰基乙烯基苯胺衍生物的电化学行为

本文利用循环伏安法研究了电子给-受体模型化合物——氰基乙烯基苯胺衍生物的电化学行为,并对推电子取代基团—NH_2和—N(CH_3)_2与吸电子取代基团氰基乙烯基对化合物电化学行为的影响进行了较为详细的讨论.提出了这些化合物的电氧化态和电还原态的结构,通过分析比较叔、仲和伯自由基对化合物电化学行为的影响,探讨了电极反应机理.     

Study of modified silicas by inverse gas chromatography part II: Influence of chain length on surface properties of silicas grafted withα−ω diols

Summary The surface properties of silicas modified with – diols having between 4 and 16 carbon atoms were investigated by inverse gas chromatography. It is shown, that the value of the dispersive component of the surface energy does not change monotonously: a minimum value is recorded when the surface is covered by a monolayer of methylene groups. Further, when measuring the adsorption enthalpies of polar probes, an alternation of their H values is observed: grafts having an odd number of carbon atoms systematically show higher H values than the others. A trans-trans configuration of the grafted chains which allows optimum interactions is proposed, suggesting a preferential diesterification reaction of both terminal hydroxyl groups of odd diols.     

Synthesis of crowded triarylphosphines carrying functional sites

4,4′-Diphosphinobiaryls and 1,3- and 1,4-borylphosphinobenzenes carrying crowded triarylphosphine moieties were synthesized by reaction of the corresponding diarylchlorophosphine with an arylcopper(I) reagent. Intramolecular interaction of the phosphorus redox center with the other phosphorus or the boron redox center was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. 4,4′-Diphosphinobiaryls displayed two-step reversible redox waves with slight differences of the oxidation potentials due to weak interaction between two phosphorus redox centers across 4,4′-biarylene linkage. Borylphosphinobenzenes showed two step redox waves corresponding to oxidation at the phosphorus and reduction at the boron. Although significant interaction between the phosphorus and boron redox centers was not observed in the cyclic voltammograms due to large difference of the redox potentials between phosphorus and boron redox centers, an absorption due to weakly interacting phosphorus and boron was observed in the UV-Vis spectrum of the 1,4-borylphosphinobenzene.     

Electrochemical Behavior of Diphenyl Disulfide and Thiophenol on Glassy Carbon and Gold Electrodes in Aprotic Media

The investigation of the electrochemical reduction processes of C₆H₅SSC₆H₅ and C₆H₅SH in CH₃CN using cyclic voltammetry indicates a different behavior on GC and Au electrodes. On GC surface adsorption phenomena are absent, the electrochemical reduction process is irreversible and diffusion controlled. For both the starting molecules the same species, C₆H₅S^?, is formed upon reduction. The E° values of the reduction processes were determined by convolution method and the standard free energy of the S? S bond of C₆H₅SSC₆H₅ estimated. On Au surface instead, a self‐assembled monolayer of C₆H₅SAu_ads originated after the S? S or S? H bond breaking can be observed by simply dipping the electrode in solution of C₆H₅SSC₆H₅ and C₆H₅SH, respectively. The properties of the SAM were investigated by electrochemical reduction of the adsorbed thiolates. On Au electrode the reduction processes involve C₆H₅SAu_ads and give rise to desorbed C₆H₅S^?. A neutral radical is obtained by electrochemical oxidation of thiolate anion. It reacts rapidly with the electrode surface to give the S‐Au bond again.     

Voltammetric behaviour of bromhexine and its determination in pharmaceuticals

A complete electrochemical study and a novel electroanalytical procedure for bromhexine quantitation are described. Bromhexine in methanol/0.1 mol L⁻¹ Britton–Robinson buffer solution (2.5/97.5) shows an anodic response on glassy carbon electrode between pH 2 and 7.5. By DPV and CV, both peak potential and current peak values were pH-dependent in all the pH range studied. A break at pH 5.5 in E_P versus pH plot revealing a protonation–deprotonation (pK_a) equilibrium of bromhexine was observed. Spectrophotometrically, an apparent pK_a value of 4.3 was also determined.

An electrodic mechanism involving the oxidation of bromhexine via two-electrons and two-protons was proposed. Controlled potential electrolysis followed by HPLC–UV and GC–MS permitted the identification of three oxidation products: N-methylcyclohexanamine, 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzaldehyde and 2,4,8,10-tetrabromo dibenzo[b,f][1,5] diazocine.

DPV at pH 2 was selected as optimal pH for analytical purposes. Repeatability, reproducibility and selectivity parameters were adequate to quantify bromhexine in pharmaceutical forms. The recovery was 94.50 ± 2.03% and the detection and quantitation limits were 1.4 × 10⁻⁵ and 1.6 × 10⁻⁵ mol L⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, the DPV method was applied successfully to individual tablet assay in order to verify the uniformity content of bromhexine. No special treatment of sample were required due to excipients do not interfered with the analytical signal. Finally the method was not time-consuming and less expensive than the HPLC one.     

Identification of Earth Pigments by Applying Hierarchical Cluster Analysis to Solid State Voltammetry. Application to Severely Damaged Frescoes

Multivariate chemometric methods are applied for identifying earth pigments from square‐wave voltammetric measurements performed at pigment‐modified paraffin‐impregnated graphite electrodes allowing for a separation between hematite‐based earths, French ochres, Spanish ochres, siennas, umbers and green earths. This methodology is applied to the identification of the pigments in samples from the ceiling frescoes of Antonio Palomino (dated 1707) in the vaulted nave of the Sant Joan del Mercat church in Valencia (Spain). These frescoes suffered considerable damage by fire during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, resulting in severe chemical and chromatic alterations. Electrochemical data, supported by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X‐ray microanalysis and Raman spectroscopy, indicate that thermal stress induced the transformation of goethite‐based yellow ochres into hematite and magnetite.     

Potentiodynamic and cyclic voltammetric behaviour of a lead electrode in NaOH solution

Summary The electrochemical behaviour of lead in NaOH solution was studied by potentiodynamic and cyclic voltammetric techniques in combination with X-ray diffraction analysis. The active dissolution of lead involves a small shoulderA1 followed by a peakA1 prior to a passive region. The shoulderA1 is assigned to the electroformation of a Pb(OH)₂ film, whereas peakA1 is due to the formation of PbO. Beyond the passive region, the current density increases again, forming a small shoulderA2 and a peakA2 prior to the oxygen evolution potential. The shoulderA2 and the peakA2 are correlated to the electrooxidation of PbO to Pb₃O₄ and PbO₂, respectively. The intensity of the anodic peaks increases with increasing alkali concentration, temperature and scan rate. In cyclic voltammetry, the reverse scan shows two cathodic peaksC1 andC2 which are correlated to the electroreduction of PbO and PbO₂ respectively, to Pb.

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Potentiodynamisches und cyclovoltammetrisches Verhalten einer Bleielektrode in NaOH-Lösung

Zusammenfassung Das elektrochemische Verhalten von Blei in NaOH wurde mittels potentiodynamischer und cyclovoltammetrischer Techniken unter Zuhilfenahme der Röntgenbeugungsanalyse untersucht. Die aktive Auflösung von Blei verläuft über eine SchulterA1, die von einem einer passiven Region vorgelagerten PeakA1 gefolgt wird. Die SchulterA1 wird der elektrochemischen Bildung eines Pb(OH)₂-Films, der PeakA1 der Bildung von PbO zugeschrieben. Jenseits der passiven Region steigt die Stromdichte wieder an, und vor Erreichen des Sauerstoffpotentials treten eine kleine SchulterA2 und ein PeakA2 auf, die mit der Elektrooxidation von PbO zu Pb₃O₄ und PbO₂ korrelieren. Analog dazu beobachtet man in der cyclischen Voltammetrie zwei kathodische PeaksC1 undC2, die der Elektroreduktion von PbO und PbO₂ zu Pb entsprechen. Die Intensität der anodischen Peaks steigt mit steigender Alkalikonzentration, Temperatur und Scangeschwindigkeit.

     

Simultaneous determination of mercury and arsenic by anodic stripping voltammetry

An electrochemical method for the simultaneous determinations of Hg^II concentration and total As^III and As^V concentration has been developed. The method does not require the additional preliminary step of the chemical reduction of As^V to As^III, or oxidation of As^III to As^V before stripping analysis takes place. Also, the method for the simultaneous determination of Hg^II concentration and As^III concentration is described. Measurements were performed in 0.1 M HCl using a gold-plated graphite electrode as sensor. Detection limits for both methods are below 0.4 ppb. Relative standard deviation did not exceed 15%. The possible interference by other trace metals was investigated. Analyses of natural water and industrial solutions were made using proposed methods and AAS. The t-test demonstrates that there was no significant difference between the results obtained with these methods. Proposed methods decrease the time of analysis because concentrations of the Hg^II and arsenic ions were measured simultaneously. Also, the removal of the additional step of chemical reduction of As^V to As^III or oxidation of As^III to As^V decreases analysis time, and also reduces the chance of contamination due to the use of additional reagents.     

Detecting DNA Damage with a Silver Solid Amalgam Electrode

Mercury electrodes modified with supercoiled (sc) DNA have been used as highly sensitive tools for the detection of DNA strand breaks or as sensors for DNA cleaving substances. In this paper we show that silver solid amalgam electrode (AgSAE), in connection with alternating current voltammetry, provides similar information about DNA damage as the hanging mercury drop electrode. The AgSAE can be used for the detection of enzymatic or chemical DNA cleavage in solution or at the electrode surface. AgSAE modified with scDNA can be utilized as a sensor for DNA nicking substances.