Electrocatalytic oxidation of nitrite by tetra-substituted oxotitanium(IV) phthalocyanines adsorbed or polymerised on glassy carbon electrode

Comparative electrocatalytic oxidation of nitrite by tetra aryloxy-substituted oxotitanium(IV) and tetraamino phthalocyanine complexes is investigated in this work. The aryloxy complexes are substituted at the peripheral (4) and non-peripheral (5) positions with phenoxy (complexes a), 4-tert-butylphenoxy (complexes b), benzyloxy (complexes c) and 4-(benzyloxy)phenoxy (complexes d) groups. The glassy carbon electrode was employed and modified with the tetra aryloxy-substituted titanium phthalocyanine complexes (4 and 5) by adsorption, and with titanium tetraamino phthalocyanine (TiTAPc) by polymerisation. All complexes reduced the overpotential of the nitrite electrooxidation as well as enhanced the catalytic current by a 2 electron process.