Anodic background reaction in moist acetonitrile

SNIFTIRS studies of the electrochemical oxidation of 1,3-dimethoxybenzene on platinum in acetonitrile/tetrabutilammonium electrolytes

“…7(a). This indicates that the oxidation process of 1,3-DMB is being seriously affected by presence of water, as it has also been reported in the literature for other methoxylated compounds [8,12,34,35]. The bands between 3650 and 3400 cm À1 , and near 1625 cm À1 , which appear upon addition of water to the system, are assigned to fundamental modes of water in a complex formed by interaction of CH 3 CN with water (CH 3 CN Á 1 2 H 2 O) [22].…”

“…The observed background currents for these electrolytes at potentials more positive than 2.40 V vs. Ag/Ag þ depend upon the water content. CO 2 , MeOH and MeCONH 2 have been observed as decomposition products in the presence of sodium tetrafluoroborate; lower amounts of CO, HCN and CH 4 have also been observed [8]. At present, the whole process seems to be rather complex, as can be seen from the many inconsistencies found in the literature.…”

Anodic and cathodic reactions in acetonitrile/tetra-n-butylammonium tetrafluoroborate: an electrochemical and infrared spectroelectrochemical study

“…The anodic breakdown of wet acetonitrile solutions at platinum electrodes has been studied with tetra-n-propylammonium tetrafluoroborate supporting electrolyte (3). N o significant reaction was observed at potentials up to +2.4 V unless water was present (in about 0.1 M concentration), in which case the electrolysis products observed were mainly C02 and acetamide.…”

Attenuated Total Reflection Design for in Situ FT-IR Spectroelectrochemical Studies

“…[28][29][30] Additionally, all these features are underneath electrolyte absorption peaks (see also Figure 3). Therefore, these nonreversible features are most likely due to changes of the electrolyte solution.…”