Adsorption of bifunctional nitriles at the free water surface and the mercury/water interface

Abstract

The adsorption of aliphatic bifunctional nitriles (succinonitrile and glutaronitrile) at the air/solution and the uncharged Hg/solution interface has been investigated by means of surface tension, interfacial tension and surface potential measurements. Results have shown that the dinitriles behave differently at the two interfaces in terms of both surface pressure and adsorption potential shifts. Both enhanced electronic effects at the metal surface arising from the flat orientation of the adsorbates and the possibility of diverse spatial configurations of the organic molecules are identified as conceivable reasons for the observed behaviour.