Malcolm E. Tessensohn

The role of low levels of water in the electrochemical oxidation of α-tocopherol (vitamin E) and other phenols in acetonitrile

The phenol, α-tocopherol, can be electrochemically oxidised in a -2e(-)/-H(+) process to form a diamagnetic cation that is long-lived in dry organic solvents such as acetonitrile and dichloromethane, but in the presence of water quickly reacts to form a hemiketal. Variable scan rate cyclic voltammetry experiments in acetonitrile with carefully controlled amounts of water between 0.010 M-0.6 M were performed in order to determine the rate of reaction of the diamagnetic cation with water. The water content of the solvent was accurately determined by Karl Fischer coulometric titrations and the voltammetric data were modelled using digital simulation techniques. The oxidation peak potential of α-tocopherol measured during cyclic voltammetry experiments was found to shift to less positive potentials as increasing amounts of water (0.01-0.6 M) were added to the acetonitrile, which was interpreted based on hydrogen-bonding interactions between the phenolic hydrogen atom and water. Several other phenols were examined and they displayed similar voltammetric features to α-tocopherol, suggesting that interactions of phenols with trace amounts of water were a common occurrence in acetonitrile. The H-bonding interactions of α-tocopherol with water were also examined via NMR and UV-vis spectroscopies, with the voltammetric and spectroscopic studies extended to include other coordinating solvents (dimethyl sulfoxide and pyridine).

Measuring the relative hydrogen-bonding strengths of alcohols in aprotic organic solvents.

Voltammetric experiments with 9,10-anthraquinone and 1,4-benzoquinone performed under controlled moisture conditions indicate that the hydrogen-bond strengths of alcohols in aprotic organic solvents can be differentiated by the electrochemical parameter ΔEp (red) =|Ep (red(1)) -Ep (red(2)) |, which is the potential separation between the two one-electron reduction processes. This electrochemical parameter is inversely related to the strength of the interactions and can be used to differentiate between primary, secondary, tertiary alcohols, and even diols, as it is sensitive to both their steric and electronic properties. The results are highly reproducible across two solvents with substantially different hydrogen-bonding properties (CH3 CN and CH2 Cl2 ) and are supported by density functional theory calculations. This indicates that the numerous solvent-alcohol interactions are less significant than the quinone-alcohol hydrogen-bonding interactions. The utility of ΔEp (red) was illustrated by comparisons between 1) 3,3,3-trifluoro-n-propanol and 1,3-difluoroisopropanol and 2) ethylene glycol and 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol.

Using Voltammetry to Measure the Relative Hydrogen-Bonding Strengths of Pyridine and Its Derivatives in Acetonitrile

The voltammetric behavior of 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-1,4-phenylenediamine was found to be able to differentiate the hydrogen acceptor abilities of electroinactive pyridine compounds in acetonitrile. Weak and strong hydrogen acceptors were distinguished through the onset of a third oxidation process that came about at sub-stoichiometric amounts of strong hydrogen acceptors, but not in the presence of weak hydrogen acceptors. This additional oxidation reaction occurred at a potential between the two 1 e- -oxidation reactions that phenylenediamines typically undergo (i.e. EPox(1) <EPox(3) <EPox(2) , with EPox(1) and EPox(2) representing the electrochemical conversion of the neutral phenylenediamine into the radical cation and thereafter to the quinonediimine dication) as well as at the expense of the second electrochemical reaction. EPox(2) and EPox(3) were observed to shift towards less positive potentials with increasing concentrations of weak or strong hydrogen acceptors, respectively, whereas EPox(1) remained virtually unaffected. This allows the electrochemical parameters ΔEPox(1, 2) =|EPox(1) -EPox(2) | and ΔEPox(1, 3) =|EPox(1) -EPox(3) | to be employed as measures of the hydrogen-bonding strengths within each category, to which they were found to be highly reproducible and responsive to steric, electronic, inductive, and mesomeric effects. The electrochemical findings concur with available aqueous pKa data of the protonated pyridine compounds but were, however, in poor agreement with results obtained by density functional theory calculations.

The Dual Roles of Phenylenediamines: Using their Voltammetric Behavior to Measure the Hydrogen Donor and Acceptor Abilities of Alcohols in Acetonitrile

Cyclic voltammetry experiments on 2,3,5,6-tetramethyl-1,4-phenylenediamine (P) in acetonitrile in the presence of varying concentrations of alcohols indicate that the oxidized forms of the compound (P.+ and P2+ ) interact with the alcohols through a hydrogen-bonding mechanism where P.+ and P2+ act as the hydrogen donor and the alcohols act as acceptors. However, the neutral form (P) largely acts as a hydrogen acceptor but only for strong hydrogen donors that do not undergo proton-transfer reactions with the phenylenediamine. These results were ascertained based on measuring the difference in potential of the two one-electron transfer reactions (ΔEPox(1, 2) =|EPox(1) -EPox(2) |) in the oxidative electrochemistry of P, which thereby allows a simple measure of relative hydrogen bonding strengths.