Electro-Oxidation of Alkenes: A Green Approach Towards Functionalized Oxygenates

In chemical industrial process, conversion of alkenes to functional oxygenates plays a key role in bridging between the feedstock and downstream application. Traditionally, the oxidation required highly-active oxygen sources or molecular oxygen under high temperature and pressure. This poses challenges to the green and safe production of oxygenates. To circumvent the issues of massive consumption of fossil fuel and serious CO ₂ footprints, approaches of electro-oxidation are developed under ambient conditions, adopting O ₂ and H ₂O as oxygen source. Utilizing electricity from renewable resources and the involved electron transfer, the performance is closely related to the interface characteristics of electrodes and electrolytes. This review presents the progress in catalysts design, electrolytes optimization, cells integration to effectively regulate the microenvironment of the interfaces. Further discussion of the mechanism analysis and potential issues are emphasized, based on the in-situ characterization techniques, isotopic experiments and quenching tests. We hope this review can provide an outline for green approaches to oxidation of alkenes via electrocatalytic pathways.