ELECTROCHEMICAL REDUCTION OF ORGANIC SULFIDES INVESTIGATED BY RAMAN-SPECTROSCOPY

The electrochemical reduction of aromatic and aliphatic sulfides has been investigated at As electrodes by means of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and cyclic voltammetry. The SERS technique applied to a rotating electrode system was demonstrated to be very useful for microscopic study of the electrochemical process on metal surfaces. We have proven the validity of the earlier proposition that addition of borohydride in aqueous Ag sol lowers the sol surface potential, enabling the electrochemical reduction of organic sulfides to thiolates. The effective sol potential measured by a silver wire electrode was found to be larger by 0.3 V than the actual potential.