The electrochemical oxidation of cholic acid has been investigated in the recent past, the target product, dehydrocholic acid, being of great interest, in consideration of its medicinal activity (dissolution of gallstones in mammals).
Our previous study took into consideration both the direct oxidation and the chlorine-mediated process; high chemical yields were obtained at Ti-supported lead dioxide and graphite electrodes, but only in the presence of chlorides in solution. On the contrary, very low faradaic yields have unfortunately been obtained at less ecologically harmful materials (like platinum); moreover, the mediated electro-chemical oxidation did not occur in aquo-organic media.
The present communication reports on cholic acid oxidation, carried out at boron-doped diamond, platinum and iridium dioxide-based electrodes; the electrochemical synthesis has been obtained in a micro-pilot plant and the chemical yield has been determined by a quantitative analysis based on HP-TLC and OPLC methods
