A spectrocoulometric macrocell with a direct-view optical probe was designed and constructed, where the optical signal is transferred by light-conducting glass or quartz fibres permitting to work at wavelengths above 410 or 300 nm. The method of measurement on the proposed equipment is described; it was tested in the study of the mechanism and kinetics of oxidation of Fe(bipy)32+ ions (bipy = 2,2'-bipyridyl) with the use of potentiostatic coulometric electrolysis with open-circuit relaxation at a suitable time. The primary product of electrolysis, Fe(bipy)33+, undergoes a follow-up hydrolytic reaction with the formation of a binuclear complex. The rate constant of the reaction of the first order involves the contributions, kBi, from all bases present in solution; the corresponding values for H2O, OH-, bipy, and CH3COO- ions at a ionic strength 0·5 mol dm-3 and 25 °C were determined as kOH = (5·0 ± 0·6) . 105 mol-1 dm3 s-1, kbipy = (1·3 ± 0·2) . 10-1 mol-1 dm3 s-1, kAc = (5·8 ± 1·0) . 10-2 mol-1 dm3 s-1, and kH2O is not significant with respect to experimental errors.
