Photo-Modulatable Potential Oscillation during Organic-Phase Iodization Reaction

For an insight into the photo-electrochemical intensification kinetics and its solvent effect during transition-metal catalyzed iodization reaction, photo-modulatable electrochemical potential oscillation was successfully achieved in acetonitrile solvent for the first time. Such an oscillation behavior cannot be observed in a similar iodization reaction system using aqueous solvent, which is different from classical B-Z oscillation or iodine-clock oscillation. The oscillation reaction cannot only be modulated by solar light, but also be coupled with another electrochemical iodization process for promoting reaction efficiency. A possible oscillation mechanism with dynamic equations was proposed to explicit the contribution of acetonitrile as solvent and trace amount of water as one reactant to iodate reactivity and proton activity. As is also demonstrated, the oscillation mechanism may inspire new intensification strategies toward highly-efficient iodization reaction with low energy consumption or high power output. (C) 2019 The Electrochemical Society.