Elektrochemisches Verhalten der Nitrophenole und ihrer Reduktionsprodukte an Graphitelektroden/ Electrochemical Behavior of the Nitrophenols and Their Reduction Products at Graphite Electrodes

Abstract

Abstract The electrochemical reduction of the isomeric nitrophenols at graphite electrodes is investigated in aqueous solutions with pH = 1-13 and is compared with the electro-chemical oxidation of their reduction products. o-Nitrophenol and p-nitrophenol are reduced to the corresponding amines, as the observed oxidation peaks in their cyclic voltammograms can be simulated by those of o-and p-aminophenol. m-Nitrophenol is reduced to m-hydroxylaminophenol, as its oxidation peak appears at much more negative » potential than that of m-aminophenol, within the potential range of the oxidation of phenylhydroxylamine. The pH-dependence of the reduction potentials of the nitrophenols at the graphite electrodes is discussed in comparison with that at a hanging mercury drop electrode.