Environmental News Network - Electrochemistry Converts Carbon to Useful Molecules

Details: By Cornell University; 09.Jan

A chemistry collaboration led to a creative way to put carbon dioxide to good – and even healthy – use: by incorporating it, via electrosynthesis, into a series of organic molecules that are vital to pharmaceutical development.

Julie Swatson

A chemistry collaboration led to a creative way to put carbon dioxide to good – and even healthy – use: by incorporating it, via electrosynthesis, into a series of organic molecules that are vital to pharmaceutical development.

In the process, the team made an innovative discovery. By changing the type of electrochemical reactor, they could produce two completely different products, both of which are useful in medicinal chemistry.

The team’s paper, “Electrochemical Reactor Dictates Site Selectivity in N-Heteroarene Carboxylations,” published Jan 5 in Nature. The paper’s co-lead authors are postdoctoral researchers Peng Yu and Wen Zhang, and Guo-Quan Sun of Sichuan University in China.

The Cornell team, led by Song Lin, professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, has previously used the process of electrochemistry to stitch together simple carbon molecules and form complex compounds, eliminating the need for precious metals or other catalysts to promote the chemical reaction.

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Electrochemistry Converts Carbon to Useful Molecules