Abstract
A quantitative electrolysis of an electro-active species in a sample solution can be achieved very rapidly when the solution is allowed to flow through and be electrolyzed at a column electrode. Complete electrolysis of the species is attained with a small over-voltage, even if the electrode reaction is slow, because the species is electrolyzed repeatedly during a long residence-time of the solution in the column. The electrolytic method using the column electrode is suitable for automated or remote-controlled operation. Because of such unmatched advantages as mentioned above, the column-electrode electrolysis method has been widely applied to the coulometric determination of species in a flowing sample solution and to liquid chromatography as a coulometric detector. This technique is especially favorable for elucidating mechanism of such complicated reactions as that involving unstable intermediates. In the present article, a principle and a feature of the column-electrode electrolysis, an electrolytic chromatography and a coulopotentiography are presented and the advantages of these methods are reviewed based on recent works on the application to flow-injection analysis and to a study of the reox reaction of actinide ions or biomolecules as well as the reaction of short-lived radicals.
