Electroreduction of 6-amino-5-nitroso-1,3-dimethyluracil on polycrystalline platinum and nickel cathodes in acid aqueous solution

The reduction of 6-amino-5-nitroso-1,3-dimethyluracil (ANDMU) is a key step in caffeine synthesis. Electroreduction technology is a promising green chemical process. The voltammetric behavior of ANDMU at polycrystalline platinum and nickel cathodes was studied. The Nicholson theory was used to resolve the reduction process semi-quantitatively. The results show that ANDMU mainly undergoes an ECE (electron transfer, chemical reaction, electron transfer) process involving four electrons on the platinum and nickel cathodes in which the two electron-transfer steps occur at almost the same potential and the rate of the coupling chemical reaction between two electron-transfer steps is very fast. Apparent kinetic data and diffusion coefficient were determined for the platinum rotating-disk electrode.