Electro-synthesis and Characterization of Aniline and o- Anisidine Oligomers

Electrochemistry have produced important results as an alternative synthesis route for polymerization because offers several distinct advantages such as process control, cheaper preparation procedures and instrumentation, and also enables an alternative approach for fundamental characterization. The mechanism for conducting polymer electro-synthesis involves, at its early stages, oligomer formation. Therefore, in this work electrochemical techniques are used as an alternative route for the synthesis and characterization of aniline (ANI) and o-anisidine (oANS) oligomers. In the present survey synthesis and characterization of ANI and oANS oligomers was successfully accomplished by applying potentiodynamic and potentiostatic techniques to a saturated monomer solution using sulfuric acid as supporting electrolyte. Oligomers characterization was performed by classical means, e.g. FT-IR, UV-vis, and NMR spectroscopy, the last one being the most important to establish oligomer chain length. The controlled formation of ANI and oANS oligomers was obtained by simpler methods than those previously reported using chemical synthesis.