Sustainable and Green Convergent Electro-Organic Synthesis of Substituted Benzyl Alcohol Derivatives in Biphasic Electrolysis

Abstract

The development of synthetically important free radical precursor from persulfate catalyst is an interesting and wide-reaching exigent task. Persulfate mediated electro catalyzed oxidation of various substituted benzyl alcohols in presence of water and dichloromethane gives functionalized aromatic benzaldehyde. In terms of green energy concern, electrochemical C-H activation has been recognized to be an efficient strategy for the conversion of alcohols in presence of H₂S₂O₈/H₂O system to afford the scalable products with high regioselectivity and in good to excellent yields. The present work utilizes catalytic quantities in all scenarios and the selectivity is strongly governed by the applied potential in a simple beaker type electrolysis cell. In-situ generated water soluble per sulfate radical intermediate was well developed and a reasonable mechanism was proposed in depth. Furthermore, the conversion of aryl alcohols to corresponding aldehydes was confirmed by HPLC, ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR. This methodology simplifies work-up, atom economy and avoids the formation of waste products.