Electrochemical synthesis of organic molecules is of high importance due to its potential of sustainability. With electrochemical synthesis being a rapidly growing field, there is a need to further understand it via studies into selectivity, product yield, and reactivity trends. Our group has recently developed the “Anion Pool” synthesis method to address this issue. The “Anion Pool” method utilizes a two-step approach to synthesize molecules. During the first step, anions are formed and pooled together to generate strong nucleophiles. The second step involves the addition of an electrophile to allow for controlled and selective synthesis. Recently there have been reports focused on reacting nitrogen-containing aromatics with highly activated carbons. However, this approach could be applied to harder to activate carbons and the nitrogen-containing substrate scope can be extended to include other cyclic nitrogen-containing molecules. This research focuses on expanding the understanding of reactivity trends for nitrogen-containing compounds to generate anions which can then selectively activate C-X bonds. A general relation has been found between the <i>p</i>K<sub>a</sub> of these nitrogen-containing compound and their ability to activate increasingly more difficult C-X bonds. Through the understanding of these trends in bond strength of the electrophile and the activation ability of the nucleophile, a general procedure can be built in order to successfully design experiments limiting the unnecessary waste of chemicals.

Electrochemical synthesis of organic molecules via the utilization of the "anion pool" synthesis method

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.