Electrochemical facilitated transport: a study in synthesis, simulation and experimentation

Abstract

The ability to influence the movement of ions across a bulk liquid membrane through use of an electrochemically modifiable crown ether will be examined in this work. This process will be referred to as electrochemical facilitated transport. The design and synthesis of a new ferrocenophane crown ether for use in this work will be presented. Experiments using this model compound were designed and performed to demonstrate the ability to move an ion across the membrane both with and against (downhill and uphill) its concentration gradient. Experimental results are presented for the movement of silver perchlorate and thallium chloride across methylene chloride bulk liquid membranes using 2,5,8,11,14,17,20-heptaoxa[21](1,1’)ferrocenophane-1,21-dione as the membrane carrier.

As a further enhancement to the understanding of the process of electrochemical facilitated transport, computer simulation modeling tools were developed with special emphasis placed on the electrochemical and carrier/ion complexation issues that are integral to the process.