Investigation of anodic behaviour of phenylethers in non-aqueous solvents on platinum and glassy carbon electrodes

Electrooxidation of selected phenylethers was investigated (2-phenoxyethanol, anisole, o-nitrophenyl octyl ether, diphenylether, fenoxycarb) on platinum and glassy carbon electrodes. The chosen solvents were acetonitrile, dimethyl sulphoxide, 1-propanol and mesityl oxide. In acetonitrile, at around 2 V characteristic voltammetric peaks appeared for all compounds. In dimethyl sulphoxide and 1-propanol, no relevant peak appeared due to the high overlapping with solvent electrooxidation. During anodic oxidation of o-nitrophenyl octyl ether and fenoxycarb, a bimolecular reaction takes place predominantly. In mesityl oxide due to its unsaturated bond, identical behaviour was observed for majority of compounds and the differences between the two electrodes are also highlighted in the surface studies. The images made with the aid of an optical microscope showed the formation of islands of products for each substrate after deposition from mesityl oxide.