Electrooxidation of chloro, nitro, and amino substituted phenols in aqueous medium and their heterogeneous kinetics

Abstract

The present study deals with the electrochemical investigation of seven different phenols through cyclic voltammetry (CV). Phenols can be partly eliminated from aqueous solutions by electrochemically initiated polymerization. Thus, the basic CV behavior was studied under the optimized conditions such as; pH of the medium, concentration of the analyte, the supporting electrolyte, potential window, and scan rate. The CV curves of all of the phenols showed that the electro-polymerization phenomenon on the electrode surface causes surface fouling for further electrooxidation of these compounds. The influence of substituents in the ring was especially noted in terms of their tendency to foul the electrode surface. The formation of new intermediates during the electrooxidation was observed whose nature was found to be highly dependent on the type and position of the substituent. As far as the influence of pH is concerned, phenols in basic medium were electrooxidized earlier but with low current. Difference in CV response because of the substituent attached under varied pH was also noted. From the diffusion coefficient (D) and heterogeneous rate constant (ksh) mixed nature of electron transfer process was proposed.