Organic Electrochemistry in the USSR

Abstract

Organic electrochemistry (in the Russian scientific literature “electrochemistry of organic compounds”, “EKhOS”) describes the whole field. In addition to electroorganic chemistry (synthesis, organic reactivity, etc), it includes also mechanisms of electrode processes including kinetics of separate stages, electrode and pre-electrode effects, combined spectral and electrochemical techniques, etc., as applied to a variety of objects—from simple molecules to complex natural compounds. The article provides an overview of works in all of these areas performed in the EKhOS's centres of the former USSR: in Moscow, Kazan, Riga, Tula, Novocherkassk, etc. In the second part of the article the author shares over 30-years experience at the Moscow's All-Union Scientific-Research Institute of Vitamins-from the first work with home-made polarograph, studying the mechanisms of reactions, to large-scale industrial electrosynthesis. Along with biographical material, author describes also the environment in which soviet scientists lived and worked in those years.

An erratum of the original chapter can be found under DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-21221-0_17

An erratum to this chapter can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21221-0_17

Appendix: Symbolization of Electrode Reactions (Based on [299])

Symbols “e,” “e _v ,” and “ε” refer, correspondingly, to the heterogeneous, “volume” (without of any electrode interface effects) and solvated electron transfer; “c” and “c _s ” refer to the volume and “surface” chemical stages. Designation of chemical stages “c”: according to particle, “p” (proton) and “h” (hydrogen), “minus” for detachment of a particle, and for attachment of a particle the “+” sign is omitted; and according to the type of reaction, “a” (association, bond formation), “d” (dissociation, bond cleavage), and “r” (rearrangement, isomerization). The subscripts N, E, R, and M (nucleophil, electrophil, radical reagents, material of the electrode) are used to indicate the nature of the substances; the subscript “2” is used for the dimerization reaction. The parallel reactions, the reactions of the second substance, and the “concert reactions” are written in the brackets ( ), [ ], and { }, correspondingly. The origin and the carry points of reagents may be indicated by the arrows “↑” and “↓,” correspondingly. Capital А and С letters may precede the reaction schema in order to distinguish between anodic and cathodic processes. The overall number of stages and the transported particles are given with the “∑” sign, for example, ∑2edp [cf. Reaction (9.7a)]. When written compactly, the symbols are entered directly in the reaction equation [cf. Reaction (9.6)].