Developing electrochemical hydrogenation towards industrial application

Electrochemical hydrogenation reactions gained significant attention as a sustainable and efficient alternative to conventional thermocatalytic hydrogenations. This tutorial review provides a comprehensive overview of the basic principles, the practical application, and recent advances of electrochemical hydrogenation reactions, with a particular emphasis on the translation of these reactions from lab-scale to industrial applications. Giving an overview on the vast amount of conceivable organic substrates and tested catalysts, we highlight the challenges associated with upscaling electrochemical hydrogenations, such as mass transfer limitations and reactor design. Strategies and techniques for addressing these challenges are discussed, including the development of novel catalysts and the implementation of scalable and innovative cell concepts. We furthermore present an outlook on current challenges, future prospects, and research directions for achieving widespread industrial implementation of electrochemical hydrogenation reactions. This work aims to provide beginners as well as experienced electrochemists with a starting point into the potential future transformation of electrochemical hydrogenations from a laboratory curiosity to a viable technology for sustainable chemical synthesis on an industrial scale.

Exploiting the NADP+/NADPH-like Hydride-Transfer Redox Cycle with Bis-Imidazolium-Embedded Heterohelicene for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Generation of clean energy in a viable manner demands efficient and sustainable catalysts. One prospective method of clean energy generation is the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Over the years, various transition metal-based complexes/polymeric organic materials were utilized in HER. However, the use of a redox-active small organic molecule as a catalyst for HER has not been explored well. The requirements of a strongly acidic solution, very high overpotential, and stability under acidic conditions pose several challenges for applying organic electrocatalysts for HER. Considering these challenges, herein, we demonstrated an NADP+-like organic system (NADP+ = nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate), a bis-imidazolium-fused heterohelicene, which acts as a catalyst for HER with mild acid (acetic acid) as a proton source at moderate overpotential. The unique structural backbone of this dicationic heterohelicene allowed to exploit the NADP+/NADPH-type (NADPH = reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) hydride transfer-based redox cycle efficiently under the applied conditions, where the NADPH-like hydride intermediate transfers the hydride to the proton of the mild acid to generate H2. The Faradaic efficiency and turnover number for the present HER were achieved up to 85 ± 5% and 50 ± 3, respectively. In addition, the maximum turnover frequency, TOFmax, value of 410 s-1 was observed, which is around 400 times that obtained for the existing reported NADP+-like organic compounds used as catalysts for HER. Thorough mechanistic studies were conducted experimentally and computationally to establish a plausible catalytic cycle. This advancement could help in designing efficient organic electrocatalysts for HER from a mild proton source.

Metallated dihydropyridinates: prospects in hydride transfer and (electro)catalysis

Hydride transfer (HT) is a fundamental step in a wide range of reaction pathways, including those mediated by dihydropyridinates (DHP-s). Coordination of ions directly to the pyridine ring or functional groups stemming therefrom, provides a powerful approach for influencing the electronic structure and in turn HT chemistry. Much of the work in this area is inspired by the chemistry of bioinorganic systems including NADH. Coordination of metal ions to pyridines lowers the electron density in the pyridine ring and lowers the reduction potential: lower-energy reactions and enhanced selectivity are two outcomes from these modifications. Herein, we discuss approaches for the preparation of DHP-metal complexes and selected examples of their reactivity. We suggest further areas in which these metallated DHP-s could be developed and applied in synthesis and catalysis.

Bis-Imidazolium-Embedded Heterohelicene: A Regenerable NADP+ Cofactor Analogue for Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

Biomimetic NAD(P)H-type organic hydride donors have recently been advocated as potential candidates to act as metal-free catalysts for fuel-forming reactions such as the reduction of CO₂ to formic acid and methanol, similar to the natural photosynthesis process of fixing CO₂ into carbohydrates. Although these artificial synthetic organic hydrides are extensively used in organic reduction chemistry in a stoichiometric manner, translating them into catalysts has been challenging due to problems associated with the regeneration of these hydride species under applied reaction conditions. A recent discovery of the possibility of their regeneration under electrochemical conditions via a proton-coupled electron-transfer pathway triggered intense research to accomplish their catalytic use in electrochemical CO₂ reduction reactions (eCO₂RR). However, success is yet to be realized to term them as "true" catalysts, as the typical turnover numbers (TONs) of the eCO₂RR processes on inert electrodes for the production of formic acid and/or methanol reported so far are still in the order of 10^-3-10^-2; thus, sub-stoichiometric only! Herein, we report a novel class of structurally engineered heterohelicene-based organic hydride donor with a proof-of-principle demonstration of catalytic electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction showing a significantly improved activity with more than stoichiometric turnover featuring a 100-1000-fold enhancement of the existing TON values. Mechanistic investigations suggested the critical role of the two cationic imidazolium motifs along with the extensive π-conjugation present in the backbone of the heterohelicene molecules in accessing and stabilizing various radical species involved in the generation and transfer of hydride, via multielectron-transfer steps in the electrochemical process.

Platinum(ii) complexes of benzannulated N∧N−∧O-amido ligands: bright orange phosphors with long-lived excited states

Benzannulated N∧N−∧O-chelating ligands enable facile formation of remarkably bright orange-emitting Pt(ii) phosphors with very long-lived excited states.

Electrochemical hydrogenation of α-ketoesters and benzoxazinones using carbon electrodes and a sustainable Brønsted acid

A convenient electrochemical methodology for the hydrogenation of benzoxazinones and aryl-substituted α-ketoester substrates is presented, using carbon electrodes and sustainable Brønsted acids.

(8-Amino)quinoline and (4-Amino)phenanthridine Complexes of Re(CO)3 Halides

In this report, we present a study on the synthesis, structure, and electronics of a series of (8-amino)quinoline and (4-amino)phenanthridine complexes of Re(CO)₃X, where X = Cl and Br. In all cases, the (amino)heterocycles bind as bidentate ligands, with surprisingly symmetric modes of binding based on Re-N bond lengths. Between the complexes of (8-amino)quinolines and (4-amino)phenanthridines studied in this report, we do not observe much structural variation, and remarkably similar UV-visible absorption spectra. Expansion of the π-system in the (4-amino)phenanthridine complexes does result in an increase in the intensity of the lowest energy transitions (λ_max), which computational modeling suggests are more purely MLCT in character compared with the mixed π-π*/MLCT character of these transitions in the smaller (8-amino)quinoline-supported complexes. DFT and TDDFT modeling further showed that consideration of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is essential; omitting SOC misses the π-π* contributions to λ_max and is unable to accurately model the observed electronic absorption spectra.

The True Fate of Pyridinium in the Reportedly Pyridinium-Catalyzed Carbon Dioxide Electroreduction on Platinum

Protonated pyridine (PyH⁺ ) has been reported to act as a peculiar and promising catalyst for the direct electroreduction of CO₂ to methanol and/or formate. Because of recent strong incentives to turn CO₂ into valuable products, this claim triggered great interest, prompting many experiments and DFT simulations. However, when performing the electrolysis in near-neutral pH electrolyte, the local pH around the platinum electrode can easily increase, leading to Py and HCO₃ ^- being the predominant species next to the Pt electrode instead of PyH⁺ and CO₂ . Using a carefully designed electrolysis setup which overcomes the local pH shift issue, we demonstrate that protonated pyridine undergoes a complete hydrogenation into piperidine upon mild reductive conditions (near 0 V vs. RHE). The reduction of the PyH⁺ ring occurs with and without the presence of CO₂ in the electrolyte, and no sign of CO₂ electroreduction products was observed, strongly questioning that PyH⁺ acts as a catalyst for CO₂ electroreduction.

Thermodynamic and kinetic hydricities of metal-free hydrides

Thermodynamic and kinetic hydricities provide useful guidelines for the design of hydride donors with desirable properties for catalytic chemical reductions.