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Kolbe and Related Reactions

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Encyclopedia of Applied Electrochemistry

Introduction

In 1834, while studying the conductivity of acetates, M. Faraday observed that an inflammable gas was produced at the anode [1]. However, being more interested in physics than in chemistry, he reported this phenomenon but did not identify the gas. Fifteen years later, in 1849, W.H. Kolbe reinvestigated this transformation [2]. He characterized ethane as the product formed at the anode and recognized the nature and utility of this electrochemical process. The “Kolbe” reaction, the electrochemical oxidative decarboxylation-dimerization of carboxylic acids, is a powerful method for the generation of C-C bonds under particularly mild conditions (Scheme 1).

Kolbe and Related Reactions, Scheme 1
scheme 101 scheme 101

The Kolbe reaction

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    István Markó & François Chellé

Authors
  1. István Markó
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  2. François Chellé
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Correspondence to István Markó .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eppstein, Germany

    Gerhard Kreysa

  2. Yokohama National University, Fac. Engineering, Yokohama, Japan

    Ken-ichiro Ota

  3. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Robert F. Savinell

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Markó, I., Chellé, F. (2014). Kolbe and Related Reactions. In: Kreysa, G., Ota, Ki., Savinell, R.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Applied Electrochemistry. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6996-5_369

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