Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence. 30. Electrochemical Oxidation of Oxalate Ion in the Presence of Luminescers in Acetonitrile Solutions

The electrochemical oxidation of oxalate at a platinum electrode in acetonitrile solutions as studied by cyclic and rotating-ring disk voltammetry and controlled potential coulometry shows an irreversible two-electron oxidation at ca. 0.3 V vs. SCE to CO2 with no intermediates detectable by these techniques. The oxidation of oxalate in the presence of several fluorescers (such as rubrene, 9, IO-diphenylanthracene, and the bipyridyl chelates of ruthenium(l1) and osmium(l1)) does not produce light, but emission characteristic of the fluorescer occurs during the simultaneous oxidation of the additive and oxalate. Studies of the conditions for emission in the presence of thianthrene and naphthalene lead to a mechanism for the oxidation of oxalate and the excitation process based on oxidation of oxalate to CzO4-., which undergoes rapid decomposition to COz and C02--. The C02-e can transfer an electron to the additive molecule to produce a radical anion, which can then undergo an ecl annihilation reaction with the electrogenerated radical cation. There has been much interest in the intense chemiluminescence which results from the reaction of oxalyl chloride or oxalate esters and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of fluorescent compounds in nonaqueous solvents.’-3 In the proposed mechanism for these processes, the reaction between the oxalate ester and H202 produces the dioxetanedione (1) as an