Sáez, Alfonso, García García, Vicente, Solla-Gullón, José, Aldaz Riera, Antonio, Montiel, Vicente
Electrocatalytic hydrogenation of acetophenone using a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrochemical Reactor
Electrochimica Acta. 2013, 91: 69-74. doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2012.12.097
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/38723
DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2012.12.097
ISSN: 0013-4686 (Print)
Abstract: 
The use of a solid polymeric electrolyte, spe, is not commonly found in organic electrosynthesis despite its inherent advantages such as the possible elimination of the electrolyte entailing simpler purification processes, a smaller sized reactor and lower energetic costs. In order to test if it were possible to use a spe in industrial organic electrosynthesis, we studied the synthesis of 1-phenylethanol through the electrochemical hydrogenation of acetophenone using Pd/C 30 wt% with different loadings as cathode and a hydrogen gas diffusion anode. A Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrochemical Reactor, PEMER, with a fuel cell structure was chosen to carry out electrochemical reduction with a view to simplifying an industrial scale-up of the electrochemical process. We studied the influence of current density and cathode catalyst loading on this electroorganic synthesis. Selectivity for 1-phenylethanol was around 90% with only ethylbenzene and hydrogen detected as by-products.
Keywords:Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrochemical Reactor, Electrocatalytic hydrogenation, Acetophenone, 1-Phenylethanol
Elsevier
info:eu-repo/semantics/article