Enabling Oxidation Reactions on a Large Scale: Combining Electrochemistry with Flow

When a molecule is oxidised, it either loses electrons (increasing its 'oxidation state') or, more commonly in organic chemistry, it gains an oxygen atom from another molecule (the 'oxidant'). Oxygenated molecules are important intermediates for the preparation of complex molecules, including medicinally interesting compounds, and are thus important for phamaceutical production.However, oxidation reactions are often difficult to achieve on a large scale, due to the following reasons:(i) Many oxidants are either toxic, or are thermally unstable materials that are potentially explosive;(ii) Oxidation reactions are by nature exothermic and may involve induction periods - this makes a reaction inherently unsafe, as thermal runaway is unpredictable and thus difficult to control.(iii) Presence of oxidants in organic solvents may generate organic peroxides, which are explosive at a certain limit, and may also cause thermal runaway reactions;(iv) The reaction can be unselective, producing many products, which may be difficult and costly to separate.This project proposes to overcome these problems by designing a new equipment to perform these reactions safely and cleanly, using largely electricity and water to generate oxidants. As the oxidant is generated and consumed immediately, the effective concentration of the reactive oxidant is kept to a minimum during the process, thus eliminating explosive hazards and environmental exposure. We are interested in 'waste free' reactions that produces side products that are environmentally benign, such as water, or in a form that can be recovered and reused (recycled).