Hydrazine electrooxidation performance of cyano-substituted indole derivatives as organic anode catalyst

Abstract

Here we present the new EWG-substituted indole derivatives, namely 2-((5-(1-methyl-2-phenyl-1 H-indol-3-yl)thiophen-2-yl)methylene) malonitrile (IPTM), 2-((5-(1-methyl-2-phenyl-1 H-indol-3-yl)furan-2yl)methyl)malonitrile(IPFM) and 2-((4-(1-methyl-2-phenyl-1 H-indol-3-yl)benzylidene) malonitrile (IPPM) was synthesized by using Sonogashira coupling, electrophilic cyclization, Suzuki-Miyaura coupling and condensation reactions. The isolated yields were obtained as 86 %, 71 %, and 69 % yields, respectively. Cyclic voltammetry(CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used for the electrochemical measurements to observe the electrocatalytic behavior of IPTM, IPFM and IPPM. The results exhibited that the highest-performance organic-based catalyst was 2.601 mA/cm2 (0.073 mA/mg) for IPPM which could be a good candidate as a metal-free electrocatalyst for hydrazine electrooxidation.