Characterization of the Reduction of Oxygen at Anthraquinone-Modified Glassy Carbon and Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite Electrodes

Abstract

1-(N-Boc-aminomethyl)-4-(aminomethyl)benzene, bearing a protected amine group, was electrochemically grafted to glassy carbon and edge plane and basal plane highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrodes by the oxidation of the corresponding linker. Following the removal of tert-butyloxycarbonyl protecting group, anthraquinone-2-carboxylic acid was coupled to the amine-terminated linker using solid-phase synthesis. The surface coverage of the immobilized anthraquinone redox centers was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and found to be the highest at edge plane and the lowest at the basal plane electrodes. The electrocatalytic activity of the anthraquinone-modified electrodes toward oxygen reduction was explored by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, and chronocoulometry at the unmodified and modified graphite electrodes. The immobilized anthraquinone was shown to catalyze the reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide and the number of electrons transferred was two for all modified electrodes.