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Kunstelj Š, Darù A, Sauza-de la Vega A, Stroscio GD, Edwards E, Papadopoulos R, Gagliardi L, Wuttig A. Competitive Valerate Binding Enables RuO 2-Mediated Butene Electrosynthesis in Water. J Am Chem Soc 2024. [PMID: 39018109 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c01776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/19/2024]
Abstract
The (non)-Kolbe oxidation of valeric acid, sourced from a hydrolysis product of cellulose, provides a sustainable synthetic route to access value-added products, such as butene. An essential mechanistic step preceding product formation involves the oxidative and decarboxylative cleavage of a C-C bond. Yet, the role of the electrode surface in mediating this oxidative step remains an open question: the electron transfer can occur either via an inner-sphere or outer-sphere mechanism. Here, we report the electrochemical, in situ spectroscopic, computational, and reactivity studies of RuO2-mediated oxidative decarboxylation of valeric acid to butene in aqueous electrolytes. We find that carboxylates bind to RuO2 anode surfaces at potential values where decarboxylation products are observed. Our results are consistent with a reaction scheme where the competitive and catalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is impeded by these bound carboxylate species while these species are inert toward butene formation. Our results implicate an outer-sphere electron transfer mechanism for decarboxylation where the surface chemistry of the RuO2 electrode serves to enable higher non-Kolbe reaction selectivity by suppressing the parasitic OER. Our findings delineate interfacial design principles for selective electrochemical systems that utilize water as the ultimate oxidant for sustainable decarboxylation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Špela Kunstelj
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Andrea Darù
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | | | - Gautam D Stroscio
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Emma Edwards
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Ry Papadopoulos
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Laura Gagliardi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Anna Wuttig
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
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Sarkar P, Dash S, Krause JA, Sinha S, Panetier JA, Jiang JJ. Ambient Electroreductive Carboxylation of Unactivated Alkyl Chlorides and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Upgrading. CHEMSUSCHEM 2024:e202400517. [PMID: 38890556 DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202400517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Revised: 06/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Electrosynthesis of alkyl carboxylic acids upon activating stronger alkyl chlorides at low-energy cost is desired in producing carbon-rich feedstock. Carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, has been recognized as an ideal primary carbon source for those syntheses, and such events also mitigate the atmospheric CO2 level, which is already alarming. On the other hand, the promising upcycling of polyvinyl chloride to polyacrylate is a high energy-demanding carbon-chloride (C-Cl) bond activation process. Molecular catalysts that can efficiently perform such transformation under ambient reaction conditions are rarely known. Herein, we reveal a nickel (Ni)-pincer complex that catalyzes the electrochemical upgrading of polyvinyl chloride to polyacrylate in 95 % yield. The activities of such a Ni electrocatalyst bearing a redox-active ligand were also tested to convert diverse examples of unactivated alkyl chlorides to their corresponding carboxylic acid derivatives. Furthermore, electronic structure calculations revealed that CO2 binding occurs in a resting state to yield an η2-CO2 adduct and that the C-Cl bond activation step is the rate-determining transition state, which has an activation energy of 19.3 kcal/mol. A combination of electroanalytical methods, control experiments, and computational studies were also carried out to propose the mechanism of the electrochemical C-Cl activation process with the subsequent carboxylation step.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prasenjit Sarkar
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
| | - Sandeep Dash
- Department of Chemistry, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 13902
| | - Jeanette A Krause
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
| | - Soumalya Sinha
- Department of Chemistry, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
| | - Julien A Panetier
- Department of Chemistry, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 13902
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Samsonowicz M, Regulska E, Kowczyk-Sadowy M, Butarewicz A, Lewandowski W. The study on molecular structure and microbiological activity of alkali metal 3-hydroxyphenylycetates. J Mol Struct 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molstruc.2017.06.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Badawi HM, Khan I. A comparative study of the vibrational spectra of the anticancer drug melphalan and its fundamental molecules 3-phenylpropionic acid and l-phenylalanine. J Mol Struct 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molstruc.2016.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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