In situ characterization of N-methylpyrrole and (N-methylpyrrole-cyclodextrin) polymers on gold electrodes in aqueous and nonaqueous solution

Electrosynthesized polymers of N-methylpyrrole (NMPy) and N-methylpyrrole-2,6-dimethyl-β-cyclodextrin NMPy-β-DMCD were characterized with cyclic voltammetry and in situ conductivity measurements in aqueous and nonaqueous solutions. In situ UV-vis-spectra of PNMPy and poly(NMPy-β-DMCD) films show differences both in band absorbances and in energies of polaronic transitions. For the electrosynthesis of poly(NMPy-β-DMCD), a (1:1) (mole-mole) NMPy-β-DMCD supramolecular cyclodextrin complex of N-methylpyrrole was used as starting material, which was previously characterized with proton NMR spectroscopy. The PNMPy and poly(NMPy-β-DMCD) films were prepared from 0.05 M NMPy and 0.05 M NMPy-β-DMCD complex, respectively, in 0.1 M LiClO4 aqueous solution and 0.1 M LiClO4 nonaqueous solution (acetonitrile) by electropolymerization. A slight positive shift of the oxidation peak and further differences are observed for poly(NMPy-β-DMCD) electrosynthesized in comparison with PNMPy prepared in both aqueous and nonaqueous solutions. Different CVs and ΔEp of films were observed at various scan rates. In situ conductivity values of PNMPy and poly(NMPy-β-DMCD) films prepared in nonaqueous solution (acetonitrile) show higher values than with films prepared in aqueous solutions.