Deactivation behaviour of boron-doped diamond (BDD) had been extensively studied for the first time in three room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) namely 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium nonaflate (EMIN), triethylmethylammonium methyl sulphate (TEMAMS) and N-hexyl-N,N,N-triethylammonium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (N2226TFSI) along with glassy carbon (GC) and platinum (Pt) electrodes on the anodic oxidation of 2,6-dimethylphenol (2,6-DMP), 2,4-dimethylphenol (2,4-DMP) and 3,4-methylenedioxyphenol (3,4-MDP) using cyclic voltammetry (CV). Voltammetric studies reveal that the anodic potential limit of the electrodes decreases in the order GC> BDD > Pt in these media and EMIN shows the highest anodic limit among the three RTILs. Multisweep CV studies suggest that the three phenols show irreversible and reversible characteristics on the BDD and Pt electrodes respectively. On the other hand, they exhibit reversible redox behaviour in TEMAMS and irreversible nature in EMIN and N2226TFSI media on the GC electrode. The phenolic compounds get oxidised at higher potential on the BDD electrode followed by Pt and GC electrodes and their oxidation potential in the three media increases in the order: TEMAMS < EMIN < N2226TFSI. Anodic polarisation studies in presence of phenols suggests that the Pt and GC do not show any serious electrode fouling: however, the BDD gets deactivated severely, as noted from the I-pa(4)/I-pa(1) values. Passivation of the BDD electrode in the EMIN medium containing the 2,6-DMP was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The effect of acetonitrile (CH3CN) on the activation of the BDD electrode surface was also studied in detail. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.