In Situ Study by Multiple Internal Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (MIRFTIRS) of the Phenoxy Radical during Anodic Oxidation of Phenol Derivatives on Iron

Abstract

The detection of the phenoxy radical during the anodic oxidation of 2-6 disec-butyl phenol confirms the radical mech-anism and the possibil ity of the MIRFT IRS method in the in situ study of process occurring at the interphase lectrode-solution. We have used mult iple internal reflection Fourier trans-form infrared spectroscopy (MIRFTIRS) to investigate the electropolymerizat ion mechanism of substituted phenols on iron electrodes (1). The anodic oxidation of 2,6 dimethyl phenol leads to rapid formation of a l inear polymer chain. Consistent with the rapid formation of polymer films, we assumed that the coupl ing between radicals as proposed in the electropolymerizat ion (2) was also rapid; therefore the l i fetime of the phenoxy radical was indeed too short for its detection at the electrode. I f this was really the case we could then expect to detect a phenoxy radical which