Even though the nwnber of requests for reprints and the number of quotations in the Science Citation Index has indicated an ever-increasing interest in topics of organic polarography, I have often felt that the reason that some work is less known may well be because the papers were published in less accessible journals. Therefore, I was pleased when I was asked to prepare a selection of my papers on organic polarography for reprinting. This collection of papers may indicate some of the possibilities offered by polarography in the study of properties of organic compounds. The fact that the papers are published in one volume, not only makes the information more easily accessible for the reader, but also enables a direct comparison of related topics. The mode of selection is discussed in the Introduction. The papers reprinted in this volume are mostly based on work carried out in the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Polarography of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague, in cooperation with my co-workers. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all of them for the pleasure I got from this cooperation on the solution of varying problems of organic electrochemistry .

It is now time for a comprehensive treatise to look at the whole field of electrochemistry. The present treatise was conceived in 1974, and the earliest invitations to authors for contributions were made in 1975. The completion of the early volumes has been delayed by various factors. There has been no attempt to make each article emphasize the most recent situation at the expense of an overall statement of the modern view. This treatise is not a collection of articles from Recent Advances in Electrochemistry or Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry. It is an attempt at making a mature statement about the present position in the vast area of what is best looked at as a new interdisciplinary field. Texas A & M University J. O'M. Bockris University of Ottawa B. E. Conway Case Western Reserve University Ernest Yeager Texas A & M University Ralph E. White Preface to Volume 8 Experimental methods in electrochemistry are becoming more diverse. This volume describes many of the new techniques that are being used as well as some of the well-established techniques. It begins with two chapters (1 and 2) on electronic instrumentation and methods for utilization of microcomputers for experimental data acquisition and reduction. Next, two chapters (3 and 4) on classical methods of electrochemical analysis are presented: ion selective electrodes and polarography.

This book provides up-to-date discussion of modern polarographic methods, with examples and experimental details. It is designed for the practicing analyst and a factor in bringing the reincarnated area of analytical chemistry into a new and healthy maturity.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

The present volume contains five chapters covering areas of contemporary interest in the fields of electrolyte solutions, the state of solvent molecules at electrode surfaces, charged colloid interfaces, surface chemistry of oxide electrodes and electro chemistry, and bioelectrochemistry of charge transfer complexes. The first chapter, by Barthel, Wachter, and Gores, covers the topic of conductance of nonaqueous pro tic and aprotic electro lyte solutions. This field is not only of intrinsic interest in itself, illustrating the important departures of ion-transport behavior in organic solvents from that, more well known, in water, but the information and extensive new data presented in this chapter will be of interest to those working with nonaqueous alkali-metal batteries where the conductivity and ion-association behavior of electrolytes in various solvents other than water is of great importance. The second chapter is devoted to a very fundamental and ubiquitous aspect of electrochemistry of electrodes: the state of solvent molecules, adsorbed and oriented, at their surfaces. The role of solvent adsorption and orientation in double-layer proper ties, it will be recalled, remained poorly understood until the early 1960s. This chapter, by Trasatti, gives a thorough account of the present state of knowledge of solvent orientation at electrode interfaces and of the unsuspected (until recent years) role it plays in properties of the double layer and in determining the potential profile at charged metal surfaces in solution.

In recent years electrochemistry has undergone a revival, particularly in its analytical applications. As a non- destructive method, with rapid response times and low detection levels, polarography is now in competition with other methods of analysis, such as spectrophotometry and AAS.