Components of Electroorganic Reaction Systems

The following short overview can only give an impression of some usual or innovative cell components and materials (a more detailed overview is given, for example, in [3a, 3b, 10,11]). 

Particular attention should be paid to toxic materials. Electroorganic synthesis will become increasingly of interest in the preparation of speciality chemicals, for example, food additives and pharmaceuticals. Thus, toxic materials should be avoided as far as possible, for example, for electrodes, solvents, or supporting electrolytes. At least, it has to be guaranteed that toxic materials in the products can be separated or removed below the official threshold values. 

Precondition of a successful electroorganic synthesis is an optimal arrangement of all incorporated components. Therefore, all available information from literature, supplemented, if possible, by results of own experiments, should be considered. The best way to get actual information about suppliers of materials and equipment - that probably may be very quickly changing-is the Internet via a search engine. 

The electrodes are the typical and most important components of an electrochemical cell - especially the working electrode - which usually decide about the success of an electroorganic synthesis. Electrode materials need a sufficient electronic conductivity and corrosion stability as well as, ideally, a selective electrocat-alytic activity which favors the desired reaction. The overvoltages for undesired reactions should be high, for example, for the decomposition of the solvent water by anodic oxygen or cathodic hydrogen evolution. But, additionally, the behavior of electrodes can show unexpected and incomprehensible effects, which will cause difficulties to attain reproducible results. 

The electrode reaction typically includes a lot of steps, such as adsorption and desorption, one or several electron transfer steps, preceding, and/or 

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