Conspectus
Electrochemical synthesis of
organic compounds has emerged as an
attractive and environmentally benign alternative to conventional
approaches for oxidation and reduction of organic compounds that utilizes
electric current instead of chemical oxidants and reductants. As such,
many useful transformations have been developed, including the Kolbe
reaction, the Simons fluorination process, the Monsanto adiponitrile
process, and the Shono oxidation, to name a few. Electrochemical C–H
functionalization represents one of the most promising reaction types
among many electrochemical transformations, since this process avoids
prefunctionalization of substrates and provides novel retrosynthetic
disconnections. However, site-selective anodic oxidation of C–H
bonds is still a fundamental challenge due to the high oxidation potentials
of C–H bonds compared to organic solvents and common functional
groups. To overcome this issue, indirect electrolysis via the action
of a mediator (a redox catalyst) is regularly employed, by which the
selectivity can be controlled following reaction of said mediator
with the substrate. Since the redox potentials of transition metal
complexes can be easily tuned by modification of the ligand, the synergistic
use of electrochemistry and transition metal catalysis to achieve
site-selective C–H functionalization is an attractive strategy.
In this Account, we summarize and contextualize our recent efforts
toward transition metal-catalyzed electrochemical C–H functionalization
proximal to a suitable directing group. We have developed C–H
oxygenation, acylation, alkylation, and halogenation reactions in
which a Pd(II) species is oxidized to a Pd(III) or Pd(IV) intermediate
by anodic oxidation, followed by reductive elimination to form the
corresponding C–O, C–C, and C–X bonds. Importantly,
improved monofunctionalization selectivity is achieved in the Pd-catalyzed
C(sp3)–H oxygenation compared to conventional approaches
using PhI(OAc)2 as the chemical oxidant. Physical separators
are sometimes used to prevent the electrochemical deposition of Pd
black on the cathode resulting from reduction of high valent Pd species.
We skirted this issue through the development a Cu-catalyzed electrochemical
C(sp2)–H amination using n-Bu4NI as a redox cocatalyst in an undivided cell. In addition,
we developed Ir-catalyzed electrochemical vinylic C–H functionalization
of acrylic acids with alkynes in an undivided cell, affording various
substituted α-pyrones in good to excellent yield. More importantly,
chemical oxidants, including Ag2CO3, Cu(OAc)2, and PhI(OAc)2, resulted in much lower yields
in the absence of electrical current under otherwise identical conditions.
As elaborated below, progress in the area of electrochemical transition
metal-catalyzed synthesis provides an effective platform for environmentally
friendly and sustainable selective chemical transformations.