The oxidative polymerization of hydroquinone in acidic solutions in the presence of chitosan was studied.The reaction rate was facilely represented by the increase rate of absorption at 470 nm and measured under various conditions.The reaction does not proceed in the absence of oxygen.The presence of chitosan increases the reaction rate significantly

suggesting chitosan works as a template for the oxidative polymerization of hydroquinone.Kinetic studies reveal that the reaction is first-order for hydroquinone

while the reaction rate increases linearly with chitosan concentration when molar ratio of chitosan/hydroquinone is less than 0.8

but keeps constant beyond that point.These results suggest a pick-up mechanism for the template polymerization of hydroquinone.The energy of activation was calculated to be 71.6 kJ/mol.Preliminary results also show that the reaction mixture gelates in certain cases.Further investigation on the structure

molecular weight and its distribution of the resultant poly(hydroquinone) is still on-going.These redox-active hydrogels may find applications in electrochemical biosensor.