Contributions of organic electrosynthesis to green chemistry

Electrifying Organic Synthesis

The direct synthetic organic use of electricity is currently experiencing a renaissance. More synthetically oriented laboratories working in this area are exploiting both novel and more traditional concepts, paving the way to broader applications of this niche technology. As only electrons serve as reagents, the generation of reagent waste is efficiently avoided. Moreover, stoichiometric reagents can be regenerated and allow a transformation to be conducted in an electrocatalytic fashion. However, the application of electroorganic transformations is more than minimizing the waste footprint, it rather gives rise to inherently safe processes, reduces the number of steps of many syntheses, allows for milder reaction conditions, provides alternative means to access desired structural entities, and creates intellectual property (IP) space. When the electricity originates from renewable resources, this surplus might be directly employed as a terminal oxidizing or reducing agent, providing an ultra-sustainable and therefore highly attractive technique. This Review surveys recent developments in electrochemical synthesis that will influence the future of this area.

Electrochemical Corey-Winter reaction. Reduction of thiocarbonates in aqueous methanol media and application to the synthesis of a naturally occurring α-pyrone

An electrochemical version of the Corey-Winter reaction was developed giving excellent results in aqueous methanol media (MeOH/H₂O (80:20) with AcOH/AcONa buffer 0.5 M as supporting electrolyte), using a reticulated vitreous carbon as cathode in a divided cell. The electrochemical version is much more environmentally friendly than the classical reaction, where a large excess of trialkyl phosphite as reducing agent and high temperatures are required. Thus, cathodic reduction at room temperature of two cyclic thiocarbonates (-1.2 to -1.4 V vs Ag/AgCl) afforded the corresponding alkenes, trans-6-(pent-1-enyl)-α-pyrone and trans-6-(pent-1,4-dienyl)-α-pyrone, which are naturally occurring metabolites isolated from Trichoderma viride and Penicillium, in high chemical yield and with excellent stereo selectivity.

Synthetic Organic Electrochemical Methods Since 2000: On the Verge of a Renaissance

Electrochemistry represents one of the most intimate ways of interacting with molecules. This review discusses advances in synthetic organic electrochemistry since 2000. Enabling methods and synthetic applications are analyzed alongside innate advantages as well as future challenges of electroorganic chemistry.

Electrogenerated Cationic Reactive Intermediates: The Pool Method and Further Advances

Electrochemistry serves as a powerful method for generating reactive intermediates, such as organic cations. In general, there are two ways to use reactive intermediates for chemical reactions: (1) generation in the presence of a reaction partner and (2) generation in the absence of a reaction partner with accumulation in solution as a "pool" followed by reaction with a subsequently added reaction partner. The former approach is more popular because reactive intermediates are usually short-lived transient species, but the latter method is more flexible and versatile. This review focuses on the latter approach and provides a concise overview of the current methods for the generation and accumulation of cationic reactive intermediates as a pool using modern techniques of electrochemistry and their reactions with subsequently added nucleophilic reaction partners.

External oxidant-free electrooxidative [3 + 2] annulation between phenol and indole derivatives

Intermolecular [3 + 2] annulation is one of the most straightforward approaches to construct five membered heterocycles. However, it generally requires the use of functionalized substrates. An ideal reaction approach is to achieve dehydrogenative [3 + 2] annulation under oxidant-free conditions. Here we show an electrooxidative [3 + 2] annulation between phenols and N-acetylindoles under undivided electrolytic conditions. Neither external chemical oxidants nor metal catalysts are required to facilitate the dehydrogenation processes. This reaction protocol provides an environmentally friendly way for the selective synthesis of benzofuroindolines. Various N-acetylindoles bearing different C-3 and C-2 substituents are suitable in this electrochemical transformation, furnishing corresponding benzofuroindolines in up to 99% yield.Electrochemical oxidation provides a green alternative to the use of hazardous chemical oxidants and forcing conditions. Here, the authors show the electrocatalytic cross-coupling of phenols and indoles to generate biologically relevant benzofuroindolines in high yields.

Reagent- and Metal-Free Anodic C-C Cross-Coupling of Aniline Derivatives

The dehydrogenative cross-coupling of aniline derivatives to 2,2'-diaminobiaryls is reported. The oxidation is carried out electrochemically, which avoids the use of metals and reagents. A large variety of biphenyldiamines were thus prepared. The best results were obtained when glassy carbon was used as the anode material. The electrosynthetic reaction is easily performed in an undivided cell at slightly elevated temperature. In addition, common amine protecting groups based on carboxylic acids were employed that can be selectively removed under mild conditions after the cross-coupling, which provides quick and efficient access to important building blocks featuring free amine moieties.

Increase of electrodeposited catalyst stability via plasma grown vertically oriented graphene nanoparticle movement restriction

This work describes a general approach to prevent coalescence/agglomeration of metallic nanoparticles for the reductive cleavage of organic halides (RX).

Electrochemical synthesis of diverse sulfonamide derivatives depending on the potential electrode and their antimicrobial activity evaluation

Electrochemical synthesis of two different series of sulfonamides was performed using the same precursors, 4-(4-nitrophenyl)urazole and arylsulfinic acids, by controlling the potential during electrolysis.

Selective Synthesis of Partially Protected Nonsymmetric Biphenols by Reagent- and Metal-Free Anodic Cross-Coupling Reaction

The oxidative cross-coupling of aromatic substrates without the necessity of leaving groups or catalysts is described. The selective formation of partially protected nonsymmetric 2,2'-biphenols via electroorganic synthesis was accomplished with a high yield of isolated product. Since electric current is employed as the terminal oxidant, the reaction is reagent-free; no reagent waste is generated as only electrons are involved. The reaction is conducted in an undivided cell, and is suitable for scale-up and inherently safe. The implementation of O-silyl-protected phenols in this transformation results in both significantly enhanced yields and higher selectivity for the desired nonsymmetric 2,2'-biphenols. The use of a bulky silyl group to block one hydroxyl moiety makes the final product less prone to oxidation. Furthermore, the partially silyl-protected 2,2'-biphenols are versatile building blocks that usually require tedious or low-yielding synthetic pathways. Additionally, this strategy facilitates a large variety of new substrate combinations for oxidative cross-coupling reactions.

Cathodic hydrodimerization of nitroolefins

Nitroalkenes are easily accessible in high variety by condensation of aldehydes with aliphatic nitroalkanes. They belong to the group of activated alkenes that can be hydrodimerized by cathodic reduction. There are many olefins with different electron withdrawing groups used for cathodic hydrodimerization, but not much is known about the behaviour of the nitro group. Synthetic applications of this group could profit from the easy access to nitroolefins in large variety, the C–C bond formation with the introduction of two nitro groups in a 1,4-distance and the conversions of the nitro group by reduction to oximes and amines, the conversion into aldehydes and ketones via the Nef reaction and base catalyzed condensations at the acidic CH bond. Eight 1-aryl-2-nitro-1-propenes have been electrolyzed in an undivided electrolysis cell to afford 2,5-dinitro-3,4-diaryl hexanes in high yield. The 4-methoxy-, 4-trifluoromethyl-, 2-chloro- and 2,6-difluorophenyl group and furthermore the 2-furyl and 2-pyrrolyl group have been applied. The reaction is chemoselective as only the double bond but not the nitro group undergoes reaction, is regioselective as a ß,ß-coupling with regard to the nitro group and forms preferentially two out of six possible diastereomers as major products.

Green Chemistry Metrics with Special Reference to Green Analytical Chemistry

The concept of green chemistry is widely recognized in chemical laboratories. To properly measure an environmental impact of chemical processes, dedicated assessment tools are required. This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge in the field of development of green chemistry and green analytical chemistry metrics. The diverse methods used for evaluation of the greenness of organic synthesis, such as eco-footprint, E-Factor, EATOS, and Eco-Scale are described. Both the well-established and recently developed green analytical chemistry metrics, including NEMI labeling and analytical Eco-scale, are presented. Additionally, this paper focuses on the possibility of the use of multivariate statistics in evaluation of environmental impact of analytical procedures. All the above metrics are compared and discussed in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. The current needs and future perspectives in green chemistry metrics are also discussed.