Proton transfer often accompanies electron transfer in organic redox couples due to the large changes in acidity or basicity that result from oxidation or reduction. Classically, the overall reaction is thought to occur in two separate steps, either proton transfer followed by electron transfer, PT-ET, or electron transfer followed by proton transfer, ET-PT. More recently it has become abundantly apparent that a third option is also possible in which the proton and electron move together in a single kinetic step. This is concerted proton-electron transfer, CPET, and is generally believed to occur within a H-bonded intermediate. It is straightforward to show that E° of this step will have a value in between the E° values corresponding to the oxidation of the fully protonated and fully deprotonated forms. Experimental evidence for CPET is typically the observance of a significant deuterium isotope effect for the apparent one electron transfer. However, it is important to note that the electron-proton transfer does not have to be concerted within the H-bond complex. It could also occur step-wise. If slow electron transfer occurred followed by rapid proton transfer within the H-bond complex, no significant deuterium isotope effect would be expected, yet, at the same time, the overall reversibility of the electron-proton transfer would still be aided by providing a mechanistic pathway through the H-bond complex with its intermediate E°.

We believe that the second oxidation of a simple phenylenediamine, H₂PD, in the presence of pyridines in acetonitrile provides a nice example of the significant role that step-wise electron-proton transfer within a H-bond intermediate can play. Without added base, the second oxidation corresponds to the reversible one electron oxidation of the radical cation, H₂PD⁺, to the quinoidal dication, H₂PD²⁺. CV data in the presence of one equivalent of pyridines of different basicity result in a significant negative shift in the E_1/2 of the second CV wave with no loss in reversibility. Continued addition of the pyridine leads to smaller incremental shifts with still no change in reversibility. Analysis of the observed E_1/2’s with one equivalent pyridine as a function of pyridine basicity indicates that, even with the weakest base, proton transfer to the pyridine occurs. This interpretation is supported by spectroelectrochemical data. Thus, the overall reaction occurring in the second CV wave is H₂PD⁺ + B = HPD⁺ + HB⁺ + e-, where B is the pyridine base and HB⁺ is its conjugate acid. The shifts in E_1/2 upon further additions of pyridine are nicely predicted by the Nernst equation with this as the overall reaction. However, attempts to simulate the CV data with just PT and ET steps fail at the higher concentrations of pyridine. This is because the rate of the ET step becomes exceedingly slow as the base concentration increases and the thermodynamic potential becomes increasingly removed from the E° of the actual ET step. This issue is simply solved by including in the mechanism the possibility of electron transfer occurring through the H-bond intermediate. This simple change leads to good fits to the experimental data, providing solid support for such a H-bonding intermediate being involved. However, a comparison of experiments with 10:1 cyanopyridine: H₂PD run in 2% CH₃OH to those run in 2% CD₃OD show no significant difference in the ΔE_p of the second oxidation, providing no evidence for the oxidation involving CPET. Thus, it appears that ET-PT within the H-bond complex still greatly aids the reversibility of the reaction even without CPET.