by Murat E. Niyazymbetov

Over the past 25-30 years the use of electrochemistry as a synthetic tool in organic chemistry has increased remarkably. According to Pletcher and Walsh more than 100 electroorganic synthetic processes have been piloted at levels ranging from a few tons up to 105 tons. Such examples include reductive dimerization of acrylonitrile, hydrogenation of heterocycles, pinacolization, reduction of nitro aromatics, the Kolbe reaction, Simons fluorination, methoxylation, epoxidation of olefins, oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons etc.

In this brief report we would like to review the use of electrochemical methods as a tool in lab scale synthesis, solving R&D objectives for a multi-step targeted synthesis, or one-step synthesis of intermediates or starting materials. There are many excellent reviews and monographs and publications we refer readers to some of them. These cover a broad spectrum of applications of electrochemical methods in organic synthesis including their use in the pharmaceutical industry. 3h,k Herein, we review some recent advances in using electrochemical methods in fine organic synthesis.

Moreover we will demonstrate that electrochemical methods are a tool that should become widely accepted in this area.

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by Norman L. Weinberg

The pharmaceutical industry, with annual worldwide sales of more than $200 billion, has for many years provided a wealth of opportunities for organic electrosynthesis of high value added intermediates. Many of these are now commercial. The most exciting R&D is occurring in electrosynthesis of chiral drug intermediates. These are enantiomerically pure single isomers of a mixture of possible diastereomers.

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by Derek Pletcher

The need to protect the environment from further contamination by transition and heavy metal ions is well established and universally reinforced by legislation which sets limits on the levels in effluents which may be discharged into sewers and local waters. All chemical plants, factories and other facilities employing solutions of such metals should therefore be treating their wastewater before discharge. Electrochemical methods compete with a number of other technologies including evaporation, precipitation, ion exchange and solvent extraction to offer solutions to the needs of the many industries involved.

Electrochemical methods, however, are uniquely capable of recovering pure metal for recycle. Although electrochemical technology for metal ion removal has been available for some time [1-3], it continues to develop to meet the challenges of lower consent levels and more complex effluent compositions. Moreover, the technology now on the market is based on diverse electrochemical concepts.

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by Guillermo Daniel Zappi

New applications for fluorinated compounds are continuously being found. In areas such as agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, the enhanced activity of compounds in which one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine is the subject of a large body of research in universities and companies around the world.

It is estimated that between 40 and 45% of all new agrochemicals being developed contain fluorine. The physical, chemical and biological properties of chemical compounds, including boiling points, surface energies, polarity, acidity and reactivity can be greatly altered by substitution with one or more fluorine atoms.

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by Emory S. De Castro

Electrochemistry on gases originated in 1839 with Grove’s “gaseous voltaic battery”. Over 90 years later, Bacon built a demonstration fuel cell consisting of porous nickel electrodes. He is credited with creating a stable three phase reaction zone of electrode, gas, and electrolyte. Today’s fuel cell electrodes are far more sophisticated and lend themselves to other important electrochemical processes.

For example, the electrolytic production of pure hydrogen and oxygen is possible through an SPE® (solid polymer electrolyte) stack where DuPont’s Nafion® cation exchange membrane is the electrolyte. Other processes include gas purification, inorganic salt splitting (caustic from soda ash), or even synthetic applications (electrocatalytic oxidation of ethylene and methane). This review will show how the three-phase region of fuel cells can be exploited to create electrochemical gas sensors.

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