Chloride-mediated selective electrosynthesis of ethylene and propylene oxides at high current density

Abstract

Charging into epoxides Ethylene oxide is a strained, reactive molecule produced on a vast scale as a plastics precursor. The current method of synthesis involves the direct reaction of ethylene and oxygen at high temperature, but the original protocol relied on the reduction of chlorine to produce a chlorohydrin intermediate. Leow et al. report a room temperature method that returns to the chlorine route but uses electrochemistry to generate it catalytically from chloride (see the Perspective by Barton). This efficient process uses water in place of oxygen and can be integrated with the electrochemical generation of ethylene from carbon dioxide. Propylene oxide can be produced using the same method. Science , this issue p. 1228 ; see also p. 1181