Scaling Organic Electrosynthesis: The Crucial Interplay between Mechanism and Mass Transport

Abstract

Organic electrosynthesis opens new avenues of reactivity and promises more sustainable practices in the preparation of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The full value of this approach will be realized by taking these processes to the production scale; however, achieving this goal will require a better understanding of the influence of mass transport on reaction behavior and the interactions between reactive species and electrodes inherent to organic electrosynthesis. The limited options for cell geometries used on small scale limit elucidation of these features. Here, we show how advanced cell geometries allow us to control the interplay between reaction mechanism and mass transport, leading to improved performance of three modern organic electrosynthetic reactions. Each reaction shows a unique relationship with mass transport, highlighting the importance of understanding this relationship further to maximize the utility of organic electrosynthesis at scale.