Old Concepts and New Paradigms in Organic Electrochemistry

Résumé

After the golden age of electrochemistry in 80'ies that was tightly bound with electrosynthesis and electrochemical reactions mechanisms, organic electrochemistry evolved following new challenges. Besides these old tasks, today's molecular electrochemistry helps to get an insight into fine electronic interactions in molecules and in short lived species formed in redox processes, to realize various surface modifications and to obtain functional interfaces, to prepare new nano-materials and to address many issues of modern research and technology. These and several other aspects of organic electrochemistry will be presented, mostly through the prism of the group 14 chemistry.

Electrochemical generation of transient ion radicals of kinetically stabilized dimetallenes and of silyl radicals via one-electron direct and reversed electrochemistry of various silylated precursors and their EPR and UV-Vis spectroelectrochemical study, electron transfer in hypercoordinated systems and their possible use as molecular wires and nano-actuators of new genaration, the use of ambifunctional silylated reagents for various electrochemical surface modifications, electrochemical fluorine-free etching of silicon and of its alloys providing high purity nanoporous silicon, grafting redox- and spin-markers to metals or to carbonaceous conducting supports and preparing functional interfaces, electrochemically assembling layered graphite-like materials with on-demand interstitial distance and other examples will be presented.