Anodic Alkoxylation of Carboxamides

Hoechst 354) has intensively studied the anodic alkoxylation of N-substituted carboxamides. 

The investigations primarily concentrated on the electrochemical oxidation of N-ethylcarboxamides25S 256), since the oxidation products open up new synthetic pathways to N-vinylamides 257)  

If glassy carbon anodes are used, the current efficiencies can be increased to almost 50 % 258). The N-vinylcarboxylic acid derivatives are useful as monomers for basic ion exchangers and for the production of water-soluble cationic polymers. 

Bayer 259 260) used a similar procedure to produce the corresponding N-vinyl-urethanes, which are very difficult to obtain by other routes. 

The reaction principle was also extended to N-acyl derivatives of cyclic amines by Hoechst 261 262  

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