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Benjamin Buckley
Benjamin
Buckley
Yohan Chan
Yohan
Chan
Nicolas Dreyfus
Nicolas
Dreyfus
Claire Elliott
Claire
Elliott
Frank Marken
Frank
Marken
Philip C. Bulman Page
Philip C. Bulman
Page
Harnessing applied potential to oxidation in water
Loughborough University
2014
untagged
Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
2014-01-14 15:04:58
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Harnessing_applied_potential_to_oxidation_in_water/9394886
Oxidation is one of the most important types of transformation in chemistry, and practical mild oxidation without added reagents or solvents has been a long-standing challenge. We have developed a highly practical solvent-free (biphasic) electrochemically driven oxidation system for the selective conversion of sulfides to the corresponding sulfoxides, and alkenes to the corresponding epoxides, in a very simple reactor system. Excellent yields are obtained for a variety of substrates, and neither over-oxidation to sulfone nor formation of diol by-products from alkene oxidation is observed. This simple system has excellent potential for scale-up, requires no storing or transport of stoichiometric oxidants, no heavy metals, and can be carried out with just water, sodium carbonate, hydrochloric acid, and an applied potential in a single cell. The electrolyte solution can be recycled and reused with no loss in activity.