Mechanistic Study of Homogeneous Reactions Coupled with Electrochemical Oxidation of Catechols

The electrochemical oxidation of catechols was described and has shown that these compounds can be oxidized to related o-benzoquinones. The electrochemically generated o-benzoquinones are quite reactive and can be attacked by a variety of nucleophiles under various mechanistic disciplines such as CE, EC, EC', ECE, ECEC, ECEC2, ECECE, ECECEC, ECECECE and trimerization, in which E represents an electron transfer at the electrode surface, and C represents a homogeneous chemical reaction. The mechanistic pathways and final products are depending on some parameters such as electron withdrawing or donating properties of nucleophile, electrolysis medium (solvent, acidity or pH) and nature of catechol.