Non-classical alternatives to the silver contact and the Formox processes comprise the thermal non-oxidative dehydrogenation of methanol, for which new catalysts are needed to achieve high formaldehyde selectivity at high conversion at temperatures below 600 °C. The electro-or photocatalytic conversion of methanol to formaldehyde is not applied either industrially but is attractive because of mild reaction conditions and high formaldehyde selectivities. Novel gas-phase approaches yielding (anhydrous) formaldehyde are presented describing lab-scale setups and the challenges for up-scaling.
Alkaline anodic oxidation of glycerol suffers from facile C−C bond cleavage, especially when using non‐precious metal electrocatalysts, which limits the yield of more valuable C3 oxygenates. Usually, a high C3 selectivity is a tradeoff with conversion for most catalysts. Thus, we used solketal as the reactant, which is acetal‐protected glycerol with acetone. CV experiments showed that solketal is oxidized over nickel boride (NixB) at potentials where NiOOH is formed. Electrolysis over NixB in a thin‐film spectroelectrochemical flow cell at 1.58 V vs. RHE to avoid pronounced oxygen evolution showed a stable current density of ca. 6 mA cm−2. Simultaneously recorded ATR‐FTIR spectra revealed solketal conversion to solketalate and formate. Indeed, 59 % conversion and 77 % selectivity to glyceric acid were determined by HPLC after acidic cleavage of the acetal, resulting in a yield of 45 %. Therefore, solketal is a promising reactant for the selective electrosynthesis of glyceric acid.
The Cover Feature shows the anodic oxidation of solketal, an acetal‐protected glycerol derivative, to solketalate. Subsequent acidic deprotection releases glyceric acid in high selectivity preserving the carbon chain, whereas direct glycerol oxidation over nickel boride would yield formate as main product. More information can be found in the Communication by S. Cychy, S. Lechler and M. Muhler.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.