One-Pot Electrochemical Oxidation of Alcohols to Nitriles Mediated by TEMPO

One-pot electrochemical oxidation of alcohols to nitriles was carried out with ammonium acetate as the nitrogen source and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-l-oxy (TEMPO) as the catalyst. Cyclic voltammetry investigation showed that an obvious redox reaction between alcohol and TEMPO occurred efficiently in the presence of NH4OAc. The constant potential electrolysis of various functionalized alcohols, especially of benzylic alcohols, afforded the corresponding nitriles in moderate to excellent yields at ambient temperature. A plausible reaction mechanism of one-pot electrochemical oxidation of alcohols to nitriles was proposed based on the cyclic voltammetry investigation, in situ FTIR analysis and preparative electrolysis. (C) 2017 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.