Edmond F. Bowden

Interfacial electrochemistry of cytochrome c at tin oxide, indium oxide, gold, and platinum electrodes

Abstract Cyclic voltammetry has been used to study the heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics of horse heart cytochrome c in pH 7 tris/cacodylate media at several electrode surfaces. Reversible voltammetric responses (formal heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant>10−2 cm/s) were observed at bare gold electrodes and at tin-doped indium oxide semiconductor electrodes for certain experimental conditions. Quasireversible voltammetric responses were more typically observed at fluorine-doped tin oxide semiconductor electrodes, bare platinum electrodes, and at the indium oxide electrodes. Reaction rates at bare metal electrodes were strongly dependent on pretreatment procedures and experimental protocol. Reaction rates at metal oxide electrodes were strongly dependent on solution conditions, pretreatment procedures, and on the hydration state of the electrode surface. A general mechanistic scheme involving both interfacial electrostatic and chemical interactions is proposed for cytochrome c electrode reactions. The asymmetric distribution of surface charges on cytochrome c appears to play a dominant role in controlling electron transfer rates by its interaction with the electric field at the electrode surface. Electron transfer distances are also considered, and it is concluded that electron transfer between an electrode surface and the exposed heme edge of properly oriented cytochrome c molecules involves maximum distances of ca. 0.6–0.9 nm.

Electrochemical Aspects of Bioenergetics

The application of electrochemical techniques to the study of biological systems finds its roots in work done more than fifty years ago.(1) This early work, based principally on potentiometric studies, provided extensive thermodynamic information for a number of biological molecules. More recently there has been a remarkable expansion in the application of electrochemical techniques to problems in biological systems. A number of scientific disciplines that focus on the thermodynamics, kinetics, and mechanisms of biological electron transfer are responsible for this enhanced activity. The basic processes by which energy is transduced between chemical and electrical domains in biological systems are being intensely investigated.

Thin-layer spectroelectrochemical kinetic study of viologen cation radicals reacting at hydrogen-evolving gold and nickel electrodes

Abstract The kinetics of viologen cation radicals reacting at hydrogen-evolving gold and nickel electrodes in pH 6–8 electrolytes have been investigated. Visible absorption spectroscopy was used to follow the course of the reaction in an optically transparent thin-layer electrochemical cell under quasi-steady-state conditions. The spectroelectrochemical data were analyzed using classical kinetics and yielded zero-order behavior with respect to the viologen cation radical. For methyl viologen cation radical at gold, a formal zero-order rate constant evaluated at zero hydrogen overpotential was found to be 1.0 × 10 −13 mol s −1 cm −2 . At nickel the comparable rate constant was nearly two orders of magnitude larger than at gold. Increasing pH from 6 to 8 at gold electrodes shifted both the hydrogen evolution and the methyl viologen cation radical reaction 60–70 mV/pH unit in a negative direction. The diquat cation radical behaved in a similar manner. The proposed mechanism involves a fast, non-rate-limiting, chemical reaction between the viologen cation radical and adsorbed hydrogen atom(s). Results are interpreted in terms of previous proposed hydrogen evolution reaction mechanisms.

Heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics of sperm whale myoglobin

Abstract Very little information has been reported describing the heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics of biological molecules at electrodes. We report here the first application of a recently developed spectroelectrochemical technique to the measurement of the heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics of a biological molecule, sperm whale myoglobin, at a methyl viologen modified gold minigrid electrode. The overpotential dependence of the heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant for the reduction of myoglobin at this surface gives rise to values of the formal heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant [ko′f,h = 3.88 (± 0.07) × 10−11 cm/s] and the transfer coefficient [α = 0.88 (± 0.01)] for this electrocatalyzed process. The importance of studying the heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics of biological molecules lies in the fact that many physiological electron transfer reactions occur heterogeneously. Though myoglobin does not function in this manner physiologically, our initial study has been directed at this molecule owing to its stability and ready availability. It is expected that this technique will be applied to other optically transparent electrodes and other biological molecules thereby providing new insights into understanding biological redox reactions.