Cathodic Reduction of Aliphatic Halogen Compounds

The electrochemical cleavage of C-halogen bonds allows to remove one halogen atom from polyhalogenated compounds selectively, to introduce C=C double bonds, and to produce organometallic compounds. Some examples from the patent literature are summarized below  

The reaction can be used for recycling more highly chlorinated acetic acids in the production of monochloroacetic acid. 

Id 421 and FMC 422 have used this reaction for the synthesis of a key intermediate for pyrethroids  

Trichloromethylcarbinols can be used as intermediates for new phenylacetic acid syntheses 423)  

However, the synthesis is inferior to the processes based on phenols and glyoxylic acid. One reason is the large amount of waste salts which are inevitably produced. Reductive dehalogenation has been used for the synthesis of antibiotics 

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