Reductive dechlorination of DDT electrocatalyzed by synthetic cobalt porphyrins in N,N′-dimethylformamide

Abstract

Two cobalt porphyrins, (OEP) CoII and (TPP) CoII , where OEP and TPP are the dianions of octaethylporphyrin and tetraphenylporphyrin, respectively, were examined as electrocatalysts for the reductive dechlorination of DDT (1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2,2-trichloroethane) in N,N′-dimethylformamide (DMF) containing 0.1 M tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate (TBAP). No reaction is observed between DDT and the porphyrin in its Co(II) oxidation state but this is not the case for the reduced Co(I) forms of the porphyrins which electrocatalyze the dechlorination of DDT, giving initially DDD (1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2-dichloroethane), DDE (1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2, 2-dichloroethylene) and DDMU (1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2-chloroethylene) as determined by GC-MS analysis of the reaction products. A further dechlorination product, DDOH (2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethanol), is also formed on longer timescales when using (TPP)Co as the electroreduction catalyst. The effect of porphyrin structure and reaction time on the dechlorination products was examined by GC-MS, cyclic voltammetry, controlled potential electrolysis and UV-visible spectroelectrochemistry and a mechanism for the reductive dechlorination is proposed.