A novel and stable catalyst for the electrochemical oxidation of methanol and tetrahydrofuran: electrochemical oxidation of organic substrates catalysed by cis-[RuII(6,6′-Cl2bpy)2(OH2)2]2+(6,6′-Cl2bpy = 6,6′-dichloro-2,2′-bipyridine)

Abstract

The electrochemical oxidations of alcohols to aldehydes/ketones and tetrahydrofuran to γ-butyrolactone at 1.2 V [vs. standard calomel electrode (s.c.e.)] are catalysed by cis-[RuII(6,6′-Cl2bpy)2(OH2)2]2+(6,6′-Cl2bpy = 6,6′-dichloro-2,2′-bipyridine), with current efficiency > 80%; a Nafion-coated basal-plane pyrolytic graphite electrode incorporating cis-[RuII(6,6′-Cl2bpy)2(OH2)2]2+ is active in catalysing the electrochemical oxidation of propan-2-ol to acetone.