Electrochemical-induced hydrofunctionalizations of alkenes and alkynes

Abstract

The hydrofunctionalizations of readily available alkenes and alkynes are one of the most effective and useful routes to afford diverse value-added compounds. Although traditional hydrofunctionalization strategies catalyzed by metal catalysts present convenient approaches, they are also accompanied by resource consumption and environmental crisis. Electrosynthesis, as a renewable and sustainable technology, has become a cost- and atom-efficient and useful synthetic route. In this review, the electrochemical-induced hydrofunctionalizations of alkenes and alkynes are summarized and presented. In each section, the electrochemical synthetic strategy to access hydrogenation and other hydrofunctionalization (hydroboration, hydrosilylation, hydroalkylation, hydroalkoxylation, hydrocyanation, hydrocarboxylation, etc. ) products are elaborated in detail separately. Finally, the current challenges and prospects for electrochemical hydrofunctionalizations of unsaturated carbon‒carbon (C‒C) bonds are also discussed briefly.