Electroorganic Chemistry: Electron Transfer Processes for Sustainable Chemical Synthesis

The aims of this work are to explore the effect of electrical current on the transition metal-free carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bond forming reactions that have recently been developed in the Wilden laboratory. Since these have been identified as being electron-transfer processes, we are interested in examining whether they can be effected at electrode surfaces. We are particularly interested in the development of sp2-sp2 'coupling' reactions as such a development would offer a carbon-carbon bond forming strategy to rival transition metal catalysed processes. The field of electroorganic research is relatively new and one which many organic chemists have shied away from. We believe that success in demonstrating that C-C bonds can be created using this technique will generate intense industrial and academic interest due to the 'green' credentials of the technique and precious (often toxic) metal catalysts not being required. We will showcase our methodology by focusing on molecules of significant economic and/or societal benefit. We can envisage the example of scheme where the opiate skeleton could be prepared by oxidative biaryl coupling. These opiate and other poppy-based medicines have been identified by the WHO as essential treatment of severe pain, however the developed world currently use nearly 80% of global production of these analgesics and as such their extraction represents an unsustainable approach to pain management, particularly in developing countries where a chronic lack of pain medicines has been prominent for many years.
Research domain: Electrochemical sciences & Chemical biology and biological chemistry