Electrocarboxylation of benzyl chlorides at silver cathode at the preparative scale level

The electrocarboxylation of benzyl chlorides to the corresponding carboxylic acids performed at silver cathodes was investigated both theoretically and experimentally in order to find the influence of the operative parameters on the selectivity and on the Faradic efficiency of the process. Theoretical considerations were confirmed by the electrocarboxylation of 1-phenyl-1-chloroethane performed in undivided cells equipped with sacrificial anodes both in a bench-scale electrochemical batch reactor and in a continuous batch recirculation reaction system equipped with a parallel plate electrochemical cell. Selectivity and Faradic yields higher than 80%and 70%, respectively, were obtained by working under anhydrous conditions both under amperostatic and potentiostatic alimentation at appropriate values of either current density or applied potential.