Electrochemical study of 1,4-benzoquinone on gold surface modified

The electrochemical behavior of 1,4-benzoquinone has been studied immobilizing this molecule on a gold electrode modified with 1-propanethiol (1-PT), 2-propene-1-thiol (2-P-1-T) and 1,3-propanedithiol (1,3-PDT). In the method used (self-assembled techniques) for the surface modification we control the exposure time of gold surface in the modifier/ethanol solution. This study was followed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) analysis. We demonstrated that the gold surface was modified by 1-PT, 2-P-1-T and 1,3-PDT compounds. Also, shown was the electrochemical detection of 1,4-benzoquinone (BQ) on these surface and electrochemical behavior of hydroquinone (H2Q) moiety formed after the Michael addition reaction between the BQ and the thiol (-SH) group on gold surface (see Scheme 1). The better system was Au/2-P-1-T/1,3-PDT/H2Q.