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Frontiers in Organic Electrosynthesis

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Electrochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 4825

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Organic synthesis arguably represents the most important discipline for the bottom-up assembly and late-stage diversification of molecular compounds with transformative applications to inter alia medicinal chemistry, drug development and material sciences, as well as the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The complexity of electrochemistry and the physical properties of electrons are extraordinary and very different from other chemical reagents. Furthermore, the equipment needed to practice electrosynthesis has become readily available only since the early 1900s. These are the barriers that have inhibited the acceptance of molecular electrosynthesis until very recently. Particularly, organic electrochemistry has, in recent years, overcome some of its last limitations as a niche technique.

The pioneering contributions of Faraday’s hydrolysis of acetic acid, of Kolbe’s electrochemical decarboxylative dimerization, of Hickeling’s proposal of potential-controlled electrolysis, of Simon’s fluorination process, of Monsanto’s adiponitrile processes, of Yoshida’s concept of electroauxiliaries, of Steckan’s indirect electrolysis, of 

BASF Lysmeral process (paired electrolysis), and of the production of lead tetra-ethyl anti-knoch compounds have enabled electrosynthesis to gain significant momentum for sustainable electro-organic syntheses.

The resurgence of this strategy has received great attention  as a powerful green tool for synthesis, affording less waste production, less chemicals spent, and often fewer reaction steps than conventional methods. Functional group interconversion and C–C bond generation by imposition of a proper electrode potential is essentially what lies behind organic electrosynthesis processes. Paired electrochemical reaction, indirect electrosynthesis, electrochemical microreactors and the use of ionic liquids are some of the highlighted means that contribute to optimization of the overall process. The necessity to use specific organic solvents, combined with supporting electrolytes, is one of the main limitations to be overcome to render the electrochemical process more economically feasible when compared to non-electrochemical processes. Numerous examples from the bench scale to industrial routes, including contributions of organic electrosynthesis to green chemistry, are expected to be well covered throughout this Special Issue. Thus, we focus on the following topics:

  • Anodic functionalization of organic compounds;
  • Cathodic conversion of organic compounds;
  • Electrogenerated acids;
  • Electrogenerated bases;
  • Ionic liquids (ILs);
  • Indirect electrosynthesis;
  • Industrial electrosynthesis;
  • Dual electrocatalysis.

Prof. Dr. César Augusto Correia de Sequeira
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Organic electrosynthesis
  • Microreactors
  • Modern redox mediators
  • Organic reactions
  • Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs)
  • Production plants design
  • Bipolar/monopolar charge flow

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2737 KiB  
Article
Tuning the Charge Transport in Nickel Salicylaldimine Polymers by the Ligand Structure
by Daniil A. Lukyanov, Vladimir V. Sizov, Alexey I. Volkov, Evgenii V. Beletskii, Andrey N. Yankin, Elena V. Alekseeva and Oleg V. Levin
Molecules 2022, 27(24), 8798; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27248798 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1507
Abstract
The conductivity of the polymeric energy storage materials is the key factor limiting their performance. Conductivity of polymeric NiSalen materials, a prospective class of energy storage materials, was found to depend strongly on the length of the bridge between the nitrogen atoms of [...] Read more.
The conductivity of the polymeric energy storage materials is the key factor limiting their performance. Conductivity of polymeric NiSalen materials, a prospective class of energy storage materials, was found to depend strongly on the length of the bridge between the nitrogen atoms of the ligand. Polymers obtained from the complexes containing C3 alkyl and hydroxyalkyl bridges showed an electrical conductivity one order of magnitude lower than those derived from more common complexes with C2 alkyl bridges. The observed difference was studied by means of cyclic voltammetry on interdigitated electrodes and operando spectroelectrochemistry, combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Organic Electrosynthesis)
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12 pages, 3973 KiB  
Article
Droplet Flow Assisted Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Selected Alcohols under Ambient Condition
by Mohammed A. Suliman, Khaled M. Al Aqad and Chanbasha Basheer
Molecules 2022, 27(2), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27020382 - 07 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1774
Abstract
This study reports using a droplet flow assisted mechanism to enhance the electrocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol, 2-phenoxyethanol, and hydroxymethylfurfural at room temperature. Cobalt phosphide (CoP) was employed as an active electrocatalyst to promote the oxidation of each of the individual substrates. Surface [...] Read more.
This study reports using a droplet flow assisted mechanism to enhance the electrocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol, 2-phenoxyethanol, and hydroxymethylfurfural at room temperature. Cobalt phosphide (CoP) was employed as an active electrocatalyst to promote the oxidation of each of the individual substrates. Surface analysis of the CoP electrocatalyst using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), as well as electrochemical characterization, revealed that it had excellent catalytic activity for each of the substrates studied. The combined droplet flow with the continuous flow electrochemical oxidation approach significantly enhanced the conversion and selectivity of the transformation reactions. The results of this investigation show that at an electrolysis potential of 1.3 V and ambient conditions, both the selectivity and yield of aldehyde from substrate conversion can reach 97.0%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Organic Electrosynthesis)
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