J. Zieja et al., Electrooxidation and electroreduction of undiluted acetonitrile at platinum microelectrodes. In situ determination of water in acetonitrile, ELECTROANAL, 13(8-9), 2001, pp. 621-625
Well-defined and reproducible reduction waves of undiluted acetonitrile hav
e been obtained at Pt microelectrodes in the presence of a minimum of 5 x 1
0(-3) M tetraalkilammonium perchlorates (TAAP). At smaller TAAP concentrati
ons, traces of alkali metal ions interfered and the wave plateau could not
be obtained. Neither was it possible to obtain a total oxidation wave of ac
etonitrile in the presence of a small concentration of LiClO4, in this case
due to the oxidation of the ClO4- counterions. An addition of water to ace
tonitrile led to the formation of a new cathodic wave, the height of which
was proportional to concentration of water up to 0.022 mol/L. The detection
limit of determination of water in pure acetonitrile was estimated as 0.00
90 mol/L.