Electrochemical oxidation of cyclooctatetraene in the presence of allyltrimethylsilane. Anodic trialkylation with bicyclization

Electrochemical Synthesis and Reactivity of Three-Membered Strained Carbo- and Heterocycles

Three-membered carbocyclic and heterocyclic ring structures are versatile synthetic building blocks in organic synthesis with biological importance. Moreover, the inherent strain of these three-membered rings leads to their ring-opening functionalization through C->C, C->N, and C-O bond cleavage. Traditional synthesis and ring-opening methods for these molecules require the use of acid catalysts or transition metals. Recently, electro-organic synthesis has emerged as a powerful tool for initiating new chemical transformations. In this review, the synthetic and mechanistic aspects of electro-mediated synthesis and ring-opening functionalization of three-membered carbo- and heterocycles are highlighted.

Photons or Electrons? A Critical Comparison of Electrochemistry and Photoredox Catalysis for Organic Synthesis

Redox processes are at the heart of synthetic methods that rely on either electrochemistry or photoredox catalysis, but how do electrochemistry and photoredox catalysis compare? Both approaches provide access to high energy intermediates (e.g., radicals) that enable bond formations not constrained by the rules of ionic or 2 electron (e) mechanisms. Instead, they enable 1e mechanisms capable of bypassing electronic or steric limitations and protecting group requirements, thus enabling synthetic chemists to disconnect molecules in new and different ways. However, while providing access to similar intermediates, electrochemistry and photoredox catalysis differ in several physical chemistry principles. Understanding those differences can be key to designing new transformations and forging new bond disconnections. This review aims to highlight these differences and similarities between electrochemistry and photoredox catalysis by comparing their underlying physical chemistry principles and describing their impact on electrochemical and photochemical methods.

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.

Efficient anodic allylation and benzylation of carbons using allyl and benzyl trimethylsilanes

An easy process for allylation and benzylation of different carbon materials, primarily of glassy carbon, in acetonitrile solutions containing tetraalkyammonium salts is described. The method relies on the capability of C(sp(2)) zones of glassy carbon (graphite and fullerene-like inclusions) to be anodically charged at potentials >1.5 V versus Ag/AgCl to form electrophilic centers reacting with substituted trimethylsilanes RSiMe3. Great propensity of the trimethylsilyl group (TMS(+)) to act as a cationic leaving group facilitates electrophilic reactions of the charged anodic surface with R-carrying silylated precursors, permitting efficient grafting of a large variety of R groups. The present preliminary work focuses only on the efficient grafting of benzyl and allyl moieties.