Hypervalent Halogen Compounds in Electrochemical Reactions: Advantages and Prospects

Abstract

The clean and facile electrochemical synthesis of hypervalent iodine reagents is a fast growing field. In the past 5 years, a diverse number of reaction types have been established, from fluorinations, oxidative cyclizations, C−N and C−H couplings and oxidations. Electrochemistry is beneficial in terms of sustainability as the requirement for chemical oxidants is eliminated. This contributes to cleaner processes with limited by-product waste. Often, the purification of iodine(III) compounds is simple, since electrolysis is performed in the absence stoichiometric oxidants. Significant breakthroughs have been made recently, including the first asymmetric application, electrocatalytic applications, and even the synthesis of bromine(III) reagents using similar methodologies.