Electrochemical Oxidation of Alcohols Using Halogen Mediators

Abstract

AbstractThe high importance of carbonyl compounds in organic synthesis and fine chemical industries has let the development of efficient and environmentally benign methods for the oxidation of alcohols be an important research field. Electrochemistry would be one of the ideal strategies to achieve green redox processes avoiding the use of chemical oxidants/reductants. Due to the relatively high oxidation potential of alcohols, indirect methods using redox mediators have often been employed for the electrochemical alcohol oxidation. Halide salts would be one of the most traditional but still common mediators owing to the advantage of wide commercial availability and cost‐efficiency. This review summarized the electrogenerated active halogen‐mediated transformations of prim‐ sec‐, and tert‐alcohols from the pioneering works to the recent examples. In addition, recent advances in the direct oxidation of alcohols are also presented.