Carbon-to-metal bonds: Electrochemical reduction of 2-butenenitrile

2-Butenenitrile belongs to the large family of electron deficient vinylic monomers that usually form 100 to 500 nm thick grafted polymer films by electroreduction. However, 2-butenenitrile exhibits a slightly acidic hydrogen atom on its CH3 group that inhibits the anionic polymerization usually observed with 'classical' organic monomers such as its isomer methacrylonitrile. 2-Butenenitrile thus gives nanometer thick grafted film by electroreduction, essentially composed of a mixture of monomers, dimers and trimers and in the same way, allows an easy observation by XPS of the chemical signature of the grafting, i.e. the carbon-to-nickel bond, observed at 283.6 eV.