Ultraviolet laser photo-modulation voltammetry of tetraphenylborate at a liquid/liquid interface.

Photo-modulation voltammetry was applied to detecting the photolysis of tetraphenylborate (TPhB) at a water/1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) interface by using a He-Cd laser emitting a beam with a major 325-nm line and minor lines of shorter wavelengths. When the interface was irradiated from the water-phase side, a new wave appeared in the photomodulation voltammogram, suggesting that TPhB was photolyzed and the anionic product was transferred across the interface. The concentration dependence of the photocurrents was successfully explained by a theory based on the photolytic process at the interface.