Polyhaloacetic acids

Polyhaloacetic acids and their partially hydrodehalogenated products represent a second important family of herbicide-/pesticide-derived substrates. In their review on the environmental applications of industrial electrochemistry, Juttner and co-authors (Juttner et al. 2000) documented the electroreductive dechlorination of dichloroacetic acid (a by-product of monochloroacetic acid), a way to recover the valuable compound and avoid wastes. The electrochemical reduction of polychloro- and polybromo-derivatives was performed by Korshin and Jensen (2001) on Cu and Au cathodes. Complete dehalogenation was obtained for all substrates, but for monochloroacetic acid. To overcome the intrinsic poor reactivity of the monochloro-derivative the photoelectrochemical properties of a p-doped SiC electrode were investigated (Schnabel et al. 2001) however, the dehalogenation stopped at monochloroacetic acid. 

The description of the electroreductive treatments of organic halides is subdivided into the following sections organic volatile halides, CFCs, polyhaloacetic acids, polyhalophenols, polychlorohydrocarbons and other compounds. These sections are meant to complete the discussion and information, provided in the preceding parts, by focussing on each specific category of compounds and their related working examples. 

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