Selective transfer of Ag+ at the water|1,2-dichloroethane interface facilitated by complex formation with a calixarene derivative

Amperometric Ion Sensing Approaches at Liquid/Liquid Interfaces for Inorganic, Organic and Biological Ions

Electrochemistry at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) has become an invaluable tool for the selective and sensitive detection of cationic and anionic species, including charged drug molecules and proteins. In addition, neutral molecules can also be detected at the ITIES via enzymatic reactions. This chapter highlights recent developments towards creating a wide spectrum of sensing platforms involving ion transfer across the ITIES. As well as outlining the basic principles needed for performing these sensing applications, the development of ITIES-based detection strategies for inorganic, organic, and biological ions is discussed.

Electrochemical mechanism of ion-ionophore recognition at plasticized polymer membrane/water interfaces

Here, we report on the first electrochemical study that reveals the kinetics and molecular level mechanism of heterogeneous ion-ionophore recognition at plasticized polymer membrane/water interfaces. The new kinetic data provide greater understanding of this important ion-transfer (IT) process, which determines various dynamic characteristics of the current technologies that enable highly selective ion sensing and separation. The theoretical assessment of the reliable voltammetric data confirms that the dynamics of the ionophore-facilitated IT follows the one-step electrochemical (E) mechanism controlled by ion-ionophore complexation at the very interface in contrast to the thermodynamically equivalent two-step electrochemical-chemical (EC) mechanism based on the simple transfer of an aqueous ion followed by its complexation in the bulk membrane. Specifically, cyclic voltammograms of Ag(+), K(+), Ca(2+), Ba(2+), and Pb(2+) transfers facilitated by highly selective ionophores are measured and analyzed numerically using the E mechanism to obtain standard IT rate constants in the range of 10(-2) to 10(-3) cm/s at both plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane/water and 1,2-dichloroethane/water interfaces. We demonstrate that these strongly facilitated IT processes are too fast to be ascribed to the EC mechanism. Moreover, the little effect of the viscosity of nonaqueous media on the IT kinetics excludes the EC mechanism, where the kinetics of simple IT is viscosity-dependent. Finally, we employ molecular level models for the E mechanism to propose three-dimensional ion-ionophore complexation at the two-dimensional interface as the unique kinetic requirement for the thermodynamically facilitated IT.

Interfacial transfer of Cd2+ assisted by 4′ — morpholino-acetophenone-4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone across the water/1,2-dichloroethane interface

The assisted transfer of heavy metal ions by interfacial complexation with 4′-morpholinoacetophenone-4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (MAPPT) at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) was studied by cyclic voltammetry. The voltammograms obtained across the water/1,2-dichloroethane interface using the MAPPT ligand in the organic phase shows that the assisted metal ion transfers have different nature for different ions. The quasi-reversible voltammetric peak of the Cd2+ ion was obtained and is discussed in detail. The dependence of the half-wave transfer potential on MAPPT concentration showed that the equilibrium is effectively displaced towards a 1:3 (metal:ligand) stoichiometry with an association constant of log β o =15.46 (±0.11) for the Cd2+ ion, corresponding to the TIC/TID mechanism.