To steer away from fossil fuels the primary sourcing for goods and chemicals, combining renewable electricity with sustainable feedstocks in an electrochemical strategy is a formidable synthetic opportunity. In the chemical value chain, olefins are among the most important building blocks for fine chemicals and petrochemicals and are widely obtained by hydrogenation of their parent alkynes. So far, however, the electrocatalytic hydrogenation to olefins has been mostly driven at high selectivity with (noble-metal) materials. We disclosed[1] that this transformation can be selectively electrocatalyzed by a simple molecular catalyst [Ni(bpy)3]2+, based on the earth-abundant metal nickel. Now coupling (spectro)electrochemical, synthetic and computational investigations, we evidence that the catalytic cycle initiates via an atypical intermediate bypassing the need to generate a competent hydride. As a proof-of-concept for molecular electrocatalytic alkyne semihydrogenation, this work opens a platform to develop original electrochemical routes for the hydrogenation/-functionalization of organics and small molecules.

Molecular electrocatalysis for alkyne semihydrogenation

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

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