Oxidation of 4-Methylbenzyl Alcohol by In-situ Generated Hypochlorous Acid Using NaCl AS Electro Catalytic Mediator: A Novel Biphasic Electrolysis Method Approach

Abstract

The objective of the present investigation is two-fold Procedure. Firstly to study the indirect electrochemical selective oxidation of 4-methylbenzylalcohol by biphasic electrolysis to get optimum operation conditions, and secondly to obtain reliable data on yields and selectivity of the corresponding parameters.  Many electro-organic protocols focus on the use of a three-electrode setup for constant potential conditions. Although these experimental setups offer the possibility of achieving the selectivity of desired transformation by specific adjustment of the electric potential, they exhibit significant disadvantages over a constant current two-electrode setup.

On an undivided beaker-type cell, optimization studies were carried out.  The various 4- methylbenzyl alcohol parameters influencing the reactions, such as current density, mediator, acid, and solvent, have been investigated. A comparison study was conducted for the chemical and electrochemical methods.

Under biphasic electrolysis, the chloride-containing mediator produced 96% of the desired 4-methylbenzaldehyde. The existence of High Quality of the Yield is confirmed by HPLC analysis. Scheme 2 depicts the likely mechanism for the chloride oxidation system.

 The biphasic electrolysis procedure has several advantages, including easy product separation, a simple work-up, room temperature reaction conditions, and the ability to reuse the electrolyte. The reactions are carried out under mild conditions using a simple electrochemical setup and offer several advantages such as the absence of secondary products, low production costs, high conversion and yield.