Studies of Adiponitrile as an Electrochemical Solvent

Abstract

The usefulness of adiponitrile (ADN) as a solvent for electrochemical studies has been investigated using several solutes. In the present work, tetraethylammonium tetrafluorborate ( TEA BF4 ) has been used as supporting electrolyte. Ferrocene undergoes reversible redox behavior in ADN/TEABF4, and the peak potential separation decreases markedly with increasing TEABF4 concentration. The ketone 9-fluorenone undergoes two successive one-electron redox processes; however, the second process is not completely reversible at 100 mV/s in ADN. This behavior can be explained by the effect of a proton transfer between the fluorenone dianion and ADN. This proton transfer is not as extensive in acetonitrile, suggesting that intramolecular interactions in the ADN anion enhance the acidity of ADN.