ANION-EXCHANGE PROPERTIES OF POLYMER-FILMS PREPARED BY ELECTROCHEMICALLY INITIATED POLYMERIZATION OF N,N-DIALKYL SUBSTITUTED ANILINE DERIVATIVES

Polymer films with quaternary ammonium groups as permanently charged positive sites in the polymeric backbone were prepared on basal-plane pyrolytic graphite electrode surfaces in acidic aqueous solutions by electrochemically-initiated polymerization of N,N-dialkyl substituted aniline derivatives (i. e. , N,N-dimethylaniline, N,N-diethylaniline, N-methyl-N-ethylaniline and N,N-dibutylaniline). The properties of these cationic films as anion-exchangers were examined on the basis of experiments on the electrostatic incorporation of some multiply-charged redox species in solutions into these films deposited on electrodes. It is demonstrated that these films deposited on electrode surfaces concentrate multiply-charged anions from solutions as dilute as 1 multiplied by 10** minus **8 M and therefore possess potential utility as preconcentration materials for multiply-charged anions prior to their electroanalysis, and, in addition, that the films have advantageous properties compared with the anion-exchange films previously used in the field of polymer-coated electrodes.