Kolbe reactions

6 Anodic Oxidation of Carbonyl Compounds 3.1.6.1 Kolbe Reaction 

The Brown-Walker version of the Kolbe reaction is the most important reaction of this class. In particular, the anodic oxidation of adipic acid half esters to the corre- 

Current efficiency up to 70% Energy consumption 2.6 kWh/kg Current density 10-30 A/dm  

The process starts from the potassium salt of the adipic acid half ester (about 10 to 30 mol % neutralized). It has successfully been scaled up to the experimental production scale by Asahi. A simplified process scheme for the entire synthesis is shown in 225). While Asahi was predominantly concerned with the anodic oxidation of monomethyl adipate, BASF mainly worked on the synthesis of sebacates of higher alcohols. 

A significant problem in scaling up the Kolbe reaction is the long-term stability of the expensive platinum anodes. Therefore, many attempts have been made to find a a cheaper anode material. One example is the Sowjet work 226), which shows that special carbon anodes can be used. Thus, the loss of carbon in the dimethyl sebacate synthesis (yield 72.2 %) after 8,400 Ah/m2 is only 0.008 %. Monsanto121) has attempted to pair the sebacate synthesis with various cathode reactions. 

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Kolbe reaction The pre >aration of saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbons by the electrolysis of solutions of the alkali salts of aliphatic carboxylic acids. Thus, ethanoic acid gives ethane,... 

A large variety of organic oxidations, reductions, and rearrangements show photocatalysis at interfaces, usually of a semiconductor. The subject has been reviewed [326,327] some specific examples are the photo-Kolbe reaction (decarboxylation of acetic acid) using Pt supported on anatase [328], the pho-... 

Electrolysis of carboxylic acid salts m solution causes decaboxyladve coupling similar to Kolbe reaction. Thus, eleclrolysis of 3,3,3-trifluoro-2-trifluoromethyl-propanoic acid in die presence of some of its potassium salt gives the corresponding fluoroalkane in a satisfactory yield [7d] (equation 67). 

Participation of adsorbed intermediates can also be shown by the prolonged decay of the potential 011 interruption of the current (Conway and Vijh, 1967a) or by measurement of the time-dependence of the formation of products by carrying out the reaction with pulses of potential of controlled duration (Fleischmann et al., 1966). Thus the formation of ethane in the Kolbe reaction of acetate ions in acid solutions is initially proportional to the square of time as would be predicted for the rate of the step (27) (Fleischmann et al., 1965). 

Stabilization of intermediates by strong adsorption will frequently be a necessary precondition for synthesis. Thus, in the case of the Kolbe reaction, further oxidation of the radicals is prevented the formation of metal-carbon bonds in the reduction of alkyl halides (Fleischmann et al., 1971a Galli and Olivani, 1970) or oxidation of Grignard reagents (Fleischmann et al., 1972c) is shown by the isolation of organometallic... 

Faraday, in 1834, was the first to encounter Kolbe-electrolysis, when he studied the electrolysis of an aqueous acetate solution [1], However, it was Kolbe, in 1849, who recognized the reaction and applied it to the synthesis of a number of hydrocarbons [2]. Thereby the name of the reaction originated. Later on Wurtz demonstrated that unsymmetrical coupling products could be prepared by coelectrolysis of two different alkanoates [3]. Difficulties in the coupling of dicarboxylic acids were overcome by Crum-Brown and Walker, when they electrolysed the half esters of the diacids instead [4]. This way a simple route to useful long chain l,n-dicarboxylic acids was developed. In some cases the Kolbe dimerization failed and alkenes, alcohols or esters became the main products. The formation of alcohols by anodic oxidation of carboxylates in water was called the Hofer-Moest reaction [5]. Further applications and limitations were afterwards foimd by Fichter [6]. Weedon extensively applied the Kolbe reaction to the synthesis of rare fatty acids and similar natural products [7]. Later on key features of the mechanism were worked out by Eberson [8] and Utley [9] from the point of view of organic chemists and by Conway [10] from the point of view of a physical chemist. In Germany [11], Russia [12], and Japan [13] Kolbe electrolysis of adipic halfesters has been scaled up to a technical process. 

Foreign cations can increasingly lower the yield in the order Fe, Co " < Ca " < Mn < Pb " [22]. This is possibly due to the formation of oxide layers at the anode [42], Alkali and alkaline earth metal ions, alkylammonium ions and also zinc or nickel cations do not effect the Kolbe reaction [40] and are therefore the counterions of choice in preparative applications. Methanol is the best suited solvent for Kolbe electrolysis [7, 43]. Its oxidation is extensively inhibited by the formation of the carboxylate layer. The following electrolytes with methanol as solvent have been used MeOH-sodium carboxylate [44], MeOH—MeONa [45, 46], MeOH—NaOH [47], MeOH—EtsN-pyridine [48]. The yield of the Kolbe dimer decreases in media that contain more than 4% water. 

The nature of the cathode material is not critical in the Kolbe reaction. The reduction of protons from the carboxylic acid is the main process, so that the electrolysis can normally be conducted in an undivided cell. For substrates with double or triple bonds, however, a platinum cathode should be avoided, as cathodic hydrogenation can occur there. A steel cathode should be used, instead. 

The current-potential relationship indicates that the rate determining step for the Kolbe reaction in aqueous solution is most probably an irreversible 1 e-transfer to the carboxylate with simultaneous bond breaking leading to the alkyl radical and carbon dioxide [8]. However, also other rate determining steps have been proposed [10]. When the acyloxy radical is assumed as intermediate it would be very shortlived and decompose with a half life of t 10" to carbon dioxide and an alkyl radical [89]. From the thermochemical data it has been concluded that the rate of carbon dioxide elimination effects the product distribution. Olefin formation is assumed to be due to reaction of the carboxylate radical with the alkyl radical and the higher olefin ratio for propionate and butyrate is argued to be the result of the slower decarboxylation of these carboxylates [90]. 

The photo-Kolbe reaction is the decarboxylation of carboxylic acids at tow voltage under irradiation at semiconductor anodes (TiO ), that are partially doped with metals, e.g. platinum [343, 344]. On semiconductor powders the dominant product is a hydrocarbon by substitution of the carboxylate group for hydrogen (Eq. 41), whereas on an n-TiOj single crystal in the oxidation of acetic acid the formation of ethane besides methane could be observed [345, 346]. Dependent on the kind of semiconductor, the adsorbed metal, and the pH of the solution the extent of alkyl coupling versus reduction to the hydrocarbon can be controlled to some extent [346]. The intermediacy of alkyl radicals has been demonstrated by ESR-spectroscopy [347], that of the alkyl anion by deuterium incorporation [344]. With vicinal diacids the mono- or bisdecarboxylation can be controlled by the light flux [348]. Adipic acid yielded butane [349] with levulinic acid the products of decarboxylation, methyl ethyl-... 

Electrolysis of carboxylate ions, which results in decarboxylation and combination of the resulting radicals, is called the Kolbe reaction or the Kolbe electrosynthesis. 

Decarboxylation of p-lactones (see 17-27) may be regarded as a degenerate example of this reaction. Unsymmetrical diacyl peroxides RCO—OO—COR lose two molecules of CO2 when photolyzed in the solid state to give the product RR. Electrolysis was also used, but yields were lower. This is an alternative to the Kolbe reaction (11-37). See also 17-29 and 17-40. 

Direct Electron Transfer. We have already met some reactions in which the reduction is a direct gain of electrons or the oxidation a direct loss of them. An example is the Birch reduction (15-14), where sodium directly transfers an electron to an aromatic ring. An example from this chapter is found in the bimolecular reduction of ketones (19-55), where again it is a metal that supplies the electrons. This kind of mechanism is found largely in three types of reaction, (a) the oxidation or reduction of a free radical (oxidation to a positive or reduction to a negative ion), (b) the oxidation of a negative ion or the reduction of a positive ion to a comparatively stable free radical, and (c) electrolytic oxidations or reductions (an example is the Kolbe reaction, 14-36). An important example of (b) is oxidation of amines and phenolate ions ... 

The anions of substituted acids will not always react according to this scheme. Some of them, particularly the a-substituted acids, form unsaturated compounds. More complex reactions also occur when dicarboxylate ions COOCRCOO are used. When one of the carboxyl groups in the dicarboxylic acid is esterilied, the Kolbe reaction proceeds without difficulty ... 

M. Faraday was the first to observe an electrocatalytic process, in 1834, when he discovered that a new compound, ethane, is formed in the electrolysis of alkali metal acetates (this is probably the first example of electrochemical synthesis). This process was later named the Kolbe reaction, as Kolbe discovered in 1849 that this is a general phenomenon for fatty acids (except for formic acid) and their salts at higher concentrations. If these electrolytes are electrolysed with a platinum or irridium anode, oxygen evolution ceases in the potential interval between +2.1 and +2.2 V and a hydrocarbon is formed according to the equation... 

As an example we may consider the Kolbe reaction, the oxidation of carboxylic acid and carboxylates of the form R-COOH or R-COO- to form coupled hydrocarbon products of the form R2. Investigation of this reaction in aqueous and non-aqueous solvents has revealed that the processes taking place are very complex indeed. In general, the product R2 is only formed at high current densities on smooth electrodes. At lower current densities, alkenes and non-dimeric products such as R-H are found, and, especially in alkaline solutions, the product R-OH can be formed in good... 

One example of the application of in situ electrochemical epr concerns the study of the Kolbe reaction. As was discussed in section 1.3, the Kolbe reaction involves some extremely complex processes and considerable effort has been expended in the search for the identities of the radical intermediates. Evidence for such intermediates remains sparse but one system that has provided such evidence is the electro-oxidation of triphenyl acetic acid (TPA) at a platinum electrode in acetonitrile (Waller and Compton, 1989). The case history of epr in the study of this system is a very good example of the application of the technique to provide details of a reaction mechanism. In... 

The initial steps of the Kolbe reaction, the oldest organic electrochemical reaction, constitute a good illustration of the loss of an acid moiety upon oxidative electron transfer (Scheme 2.24). The issue of the stepwise versus concerted character of the electron transfer/bond-breaking process in this reaction is discussed in Chapter 3. 

Spin trapping by PBN has also been employed to detect radical formation in a photo-Kolbe reaction in which acetic acid is irradiated (A > 360 nm) in the presence of platinized titanium dioxide powder (Kraeutler et al, 1978). The nitroxide observed was considered to be (PBN—Me ), but the published spectrum clearly shows the presence of a second species spectral overlap might therefore be an alternative to solvent polarity as an explanation of the discrepancy between the observed splitting parameters and those previously reported for this species. Where poor resolution obtains, it is important that... 

A variety of photocatalyzed decarboxylation reactions on Ti02 powder including the decomposition of acetate to methane and carbon dioxide and the breakdown of benzoic acid yielding predominantly CO2 have been reported by Bard and coworkers (23,24). Evidence for the occurrence of these "photo-Kolbe" reactions has stimulated the search for other organic reactions that might be photochemically initiated by excitation of semiconductors and extensive work in this area is in progress (25). 

Ti02, with a band gap of 3.2 eV, was successfully used for the photooxidation of acetate ion in acetic acid, a photochemical version of the Kolbe reaction (Kraeutler et al., 1978). The main products formed were methane and carbon dioxide, in addition to small amounts of ethane. The latter is the major product... 

Kolbe reaction, 40 160-161 mediated conversions of organic substrates, 40 152... 

Koch-Haaf reaction, acylium ions, 42 160 Koch reaction, 34 126 Kolbel-Engelhardt reaction, 31 59 Kolbe reaction, 40 160-161 chemical identity of adsorbed intermediates, 38 18-19... 

There are also some reactions known, which need - contrary to the normal case - a high current density for a sufficient selectivity, for example, the Kolbe reaction (see Chapter 6). 

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