Extended investigation of electrocatalytic generation of dihydrogen using [(mu-1,2-benzenedithiolato)][Fe(CO)3]2 has revealed that weak acids, such as acetic acid, can be used. The catalytic reduction producing dihydrogen occurs at approximately -2 V for several carboxylic acids and phenols resulting in overpotentials of only -0.44 to -0.71 V depending on the weak acid used. This unusual catalytic reduction occurs at a potential at which the starting material, in the absence of a proton source, does not show a reduction peak. The mechanism for this process and structures for the intermediates have been discerned by electrochemical and computational analysis. These studies reveal that the catalyst is the monoanion of the starting material and an ECEC mechanism occurs.

Voltammetry is widely used for the evaluation of iron-only hydrogenase mimics and other potential catalysts for hydrogen generation using various dipolar aprotic solvents. Effective catalysts show enhanced current in the presence of a proton donor at the potential where the catalyst is reduced. To facilitate the comparison of catalytic efficiencies, this paper provides a simple means of calculating the standard potential for reduction of the acid, HA, according to the half reaction 2HA + 2e- <==> H2 + 2A-. This standard potential depends on the pKa of HA in the solvent being used. It is thermodynamically impossible for reduction of HA to occur at less negative potentials than the standard potential, and the most effective catalysts will operate at potentials as close as possible to the standard potential. In addition, direct reduction of HA at the electrode will compete with the catalyzed reduction, thus complicating evaluation of the rate of the catalyzed reaction. Glassy carbon electrodes, commonly used in such evaluations, show a quite large overpotential for direct reduction of HA so that the necessary corrections are small. However, catalysis at very negative potentials will be contaminated by significant direct reduction of HA at glassy carbon. It is demonstrated that direct reduction can be almost completely suppressed by using a mercury or amalgamated gold electrode, even at very negative potentials.

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The electrochemical reduction of 9,10-dinitroanthracene, 1, and 3,6-dinitrodurene, 2, occurs with potential inversion. That is, the standard potential for formation of the anion radical is shifted in the negative direction from the standard potential for the anion radical/dianion couple. This behavior has been attributed to significant structural changes accompanying the reduction steps. In this work, an assessment was made of the magnitude of the effects of activity coefficients and ion pairing, two effects which contribute to potential inversion. 1,4-Dinitrobenzene, 3, and 2,5-dimethyl-1,4-dinitrobenzene, 4, were studied in acetonitrile and N,N-dimethylformamide with R(4)N(+) salts as electrolytes (R = CH(3)-, CH(3)CH(2)-, CH(3)(CH(2))(3)-, and CH(3)(CH(2))(7)-) at concentrations from 0.010 to 0.100 M. Significant ion pairing between the dianion, A(2-), and R(4)N(+) was found for (CH(3))(4)N(+) with both 3 and 4 while the effects of the other electrolytes were smaller. The data were successfully interpreted without recourse to other ion pairs, e.g., ion pairing between the anion radical and the electrolyte cation. Ion pair formation constants are reported along with the infinite-dilution values of the difference in the two standard potentials. The effects of activity coefficients and ion pairing at 0.10 M electrolyte do not exceed 100 mV for (CH(3)N(+)) and are only 20 to 60 mV for (CH(3))(4)N(+), a cation commonly used in studies of potential inversion. It is concluded that structural changes accompanying the reduction, rather than activity and ion pairing effects, are the dominant factors underlying potential inversion.

Concerted proton and electron transfers (CPET) currently attract considerable theoretical and experimental attention, notably in view of their likely involvement in many enzymatic reactions. Electrochemistry, through techniques such as cyclic voltammetry, can provide a quite effective access to CPET in terms of diagnosis and quantitative kinetic characterization. The relationships expressing the rate constant of an electrochemical CPET are given. Besides the CPET standard potential, it depends on two main factors. One is the reorganization energy, which appears as the sum of an intramolecular contribution and two solvent reorganization energies corresponding to proton and electron transfers, respectively. The other is the pre-exponential factor that mainly depends on proton tunneling through the activation barrier. Procedures for estimating these various factors as well as the H/D kinetic isotope effect are described. Application of the theory is illustrated by the experimental results obtained for the cyclic voltammetric reduction of the water-superoxide ion complex in dimethylformamide and acetonitrile.

A simple experiment is descried here that has become extremely popular in chemical research because it can provide useful information about redox reactions in a form that is easily obtained and interpreted. In this paper the authors present the principles of the method and illustrate its use in the study of four electrode reactions. From State-of-the-Art Symposium: Electrochemistry, ACS meeting, Kansas City, 1982.