Benzyl halides electroreduction

Nickel-bpy and nickel-pyridine catalytic systems have been applied to numerous electroreductive reactions,202 such as synthesis of ketones by heterocoupling of acyl and benzyl halides,210,213 addition of aryl bromides to activated alkenes,212,214 synthesis of conjugated dienes, unsaturated esters, ketones, and nitriles by homo- and cross-coupling involving alkenyl halides,215 reductive polymerization of aromatic and heteroaromatic dibromides,216-221 or cleavage of the C-0 bond in allyl ethers.222... 

Because the reduction potential of ether is usually more negative than that of halides, examples that belong to this category are rather rare. Generally, cathodic reduction of ethers is similar to that of alcohols, and nonactivated ethers are not reducible under the conditions of electroreduction. Activated ethers such as benzylic and allylic ethers are elec-trochemically reduced to a limited extent (Scheme 7) [1, 15, 16]. Reduction of epoxides is usually difficult however, electroreductive cleavage of activated epoxides to the corresponding alcohols is reported [17, 18]. The cleavage of the C—O bond of ethers is more easily accomplished in anodic oxidation than in cathodic reduction, which is stated in Chapter 6. 

The catalyst is not necessary either for the electrocarboxylation of aryl halides or various benzylic compounds when conducted in undivided cells and in the presence of a sacrificial anode of aluminum [105] or magnesium [8,106], Nevertheless both methods, i.e., catalysis and sacrificial anode, can be eventually associated in order to perform the electrocarboxylation of organic halides having functional groups which are not compatible with a direct electroreductive process. 

The formation of arylzinc reagents can also be accomplished by using electrochemical methods. With a sacrificial zinc anode and in the presence of nickel 2,2-bipyridyl, polyfunctional zinc reagents of type 36 can be prepared in excellent yields (Scheme 14) . An electrochemical conversion of aryl halides to arylzinc compounds can also be achieved by a cobalt catalysis in DMF/pyridine mixture . The mechanism of this reaction has been carefully studied . This method can also be applied to heterocyclic compounds such as 2- or 3-chloropyridine and 2- or 3-bromothiophenes . Zinc can also be elec-trochemically activated and a mixture of zinc metal and small amounts of zinc formed by electroreduction of zinc halides are very reactive toward a-bromoesters and allylic or benzylic bromides . ... 

Solid zinc activation has been used with success for the formation of stable organozinc compounds from functionalized benzylic bromides [8] and has been applied to the condensation of activated halides with nitriles [9] (Blaise reaction) or carbonyl compounds (10] (Reformatsky reaction). In this case, solid zinc is activated by catalytic generated zinc formed by electroreduction of anhydrous ZnBr2 solution in acetonitrile as solvent. Results and practical approaches have been reported [llj. 

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