Roughness-Dependent Electro-Reductive Coupling of Nitrobenzenes and Aldehydes on Copper Electrodes
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Updated: Aug 5, 2025
![[DPEPhosbcpCu]PF6: A General and Broadly Applicable Copper-Based Photoredox Catalyst](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.jove.com%2FCDNSource%2Fteasers%2F59739.jpg&w=3840&q=50)
[DPEPhosbcpCu]PF6: A General and Broadly Applicable Copper-Based Photoredox Catalyst
Published on: May 21, 2019
Yinjian Zheng1, Zhiyuan Wang1, Peng Chen1
1College of Chemistry and Materials Science, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Supramolecular Coordination Materials and Applications, Jinan University, No. 601, Huangpu Avenue West, Guangzhou, 510632, P. R. China.
Abstract:
The electro-reductive coupling of nitro and carbonyl compounds enables a facile, environmentally friendly and energy benign transformation toward value-added nitrones or imines, but the selectivity is still challenging. Here, the surface roughness of Cu electrodes is introduced for the first time as the determinant to switch products from nitrones to imines owing to the controllable reduction of nitroarenes to hydroxylamines or amines on tailored CuI /Cu0 interfaces. The roughness-dependent selectivity, that is the decrease of nitrones and the increase of imines with enhanced roughness, is visible in the electro-reductive coupling of nitrobenzene and furfural. Thus, the high selectivity of nitrone (98 %) and imine (80 %) can be achieved on a surface smooth Cu foil and the one electrochemically roughened in the presence of I- , respectively. Such roughness-dependence of nitrone/imine selectivity on Cu electrodes is further verified in a wide substrate scope, highlighting the promise of surface/interfacial engineering for electrochemical synthesis.
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