Voltammetric behaviour of hyponitrite ion and its analytical applications

Hyponitrite is electrochemically oxidized at a platinized platinum microelectrode. The overall process is characterized by an appreciable overvoltage; in alkaline solution nitrite and nitrous oxide are the ultimate products. The wave is well shaped and diffusion-controlled, and can be used for the voltammetric determination of microamounts of hyponitrite. Alternatively, the oxidation of hyponitrite by hypochlorite in basic solution can be used for the direct determination of hyponitrite with amperometric end-point detection. The limits of determination of the voltammetric and amperometric methods are about 10^-4 M and 5 · 10^-4 M, respectively.