REAL-TIME COMPUTER OPTIMIZATION OF STATIONARY ELECTRODE POLAROGRAPHIC MEASUREMENTS

A small digital computer has been employed on-line in stationary electrode polarographic experiments to automatically optimize experimental measurements. This was accomplished by allowing the computer to interact with the experiment in real time. That is, the computer was able to modify the course of the experiment–during the experiment–based on the nature of the continuously monitored output. The nature of the experimental modifications was simply to cause a temporary interruption of the linear voltage sweep after each reduction step, in order to dissipate the reducible species in the diffusion layer and minimize interference with succeeding reduction steps. The interrupt potential and length of the delay are computed in real time from the characteristics of the preceding reduction step. Thus, the applied experiment is uniquely tailored to each different sample composition. The result of applying this “sample-oriented” type of experiment has been to improve significantly the quantitative resol tion for stationary electrode polarographic measurements of mixtures where E1/2ʹs differ by greater then 150 mV. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.