Electrosynthesis of dimethylsulfone from dimethylsulfoxide at a dimensionally stable anode

Galvanostatic electrochemical oxidation of dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) to dimethylsulfone (DMSO2) has been effected at a dimensionally stable anode (DSA) under different conditions of current density and reaction media, in both a batch and a ¯ow reactor (membrane cell with an ion-exchange membrane between the two working electrodes) functioning in batch recirculation mode. Excellent yields of the sulfone have been obtained under both conditions. The product has been characterized by various physicochemical techniques. The operational conditions giving maximum yield of the product have been established. The electrochemical oxidation of DMSO has also been studied by cyclic voltammetry at a glassy carbon (GC) electrode. The mechanism of electrochemical oxidation and the advantages of the present methods over existing ones, are discussed

Electrolytic synthesis of succinic acid in a flow reactor with solid polymer electrolyte membrane

This paper describes the galvanostatic synthesis of succinic acid from maleic acid in an ion exchange membrane flow cell. The electrolysis was carried out at stainless steel, lead and copper cathodes under variable conditions of current density and substrate concentration. Depending upon the experimental conditions, the yield of succinic acid varied from 95 and 99% with a coulombic efficiency of 80–99%. The product was characterized by various physicochemical techniques, viz. 1H-NMR, IR and UV–Visible spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The operational conditions giving maximum yield of product were identified. The mechanism of electrochemical reduction of maleic acid and advantages of using a catholyte without supporting electrolyte are discussed

Cyclic voltammetric and galvanostatic electrolysis studies on the reduction of maleic acid in buffered and unbuffered solutions

Maleic acid (MA) is reduced in a two electron diffusion limited, irreversible step to succinic acid at a HMDE in buffered media at pH <=8.5. Galvanostatic reduction of MA in 0.53 M H2SO4 and 0.1 M Na2SO4 (pH 8.1) in an undivided cell yielded succinic acid (SA) in high yields. The product has been characterized by FTIR and 1H-NMR. Based on the results obtained, a plausible mechanism of reduction of MA has been suggested in various medi