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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