Metallic Impurities in Electrolysis: Catalytic Effect of Pb Traces in Reductive Amination and Acetone Reduction

The electrochemical hydrogenation (e-hydrogenation) of unsaturated compounds like imines or carbonyls presents a benign reduction method. It enables direct use of electrons as reducing agent, water as proton source, while bypassing the need for elevated temperatures or pressures. In this contribution, we discuss the active species in electrocatalytic reductive amination with the transformation of acetone and methylamine as model reaction. Surprisingly, lead impurities in the ppm-range proved to possess a significant effect in e-hydrogenation. Accordingly, the influence of applied potential and cathode material in presence of 1 ppm Pb was investigated. Finally, we transferred the insights to the reduction of acetone manifesting comparable observations as for imine reduction. The results suggest that previous studies on electrochemical reduction in the presence of lead electrodes should be re-evaluated.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Published
2024-08-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202411532
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Asymmetric Hydrogenation and Catalysis
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.95

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article

Metallic Impurities in Electrolysis: Catalytic Effect of Pb Traces in Reductive Amination and Acetone Reduction

Nils Kurig, Sonja D. Mürtz, Philippe Sautet, Yani Guan et al.
6 citations
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Asymmetric Hydrogenation and Catalysis
0.95
article

Metallic Impurities in Electrolysis: Catalytic Effect of Pb Traces in Reductive Amination and Acetone Reduction

Nils Kurig, Sonja D. Mürtz, Philippe Sautet, Yani Guan, Peter J. C. Hausoul, Simran Kumari, Regina Palkovits, Justus Kümper
article en
6 citations

Abstract

The electrochemical hydrogenation (e-hydrogenation) of unsaturated compounds like imines or carbonyls presents a benign reduction method. It enables direct use of electrons as reducing agent, water as proton source, while bypassing the need for elevated temperatures or pressures. In this contribution, we discuss the active species in electrocatalytic reductive amination with the transformation of acetone and methylamine as model reaction. Surprisingly, lead impurities in the ppm-range proved to possess a significant effect in e-hydrogenation. Accordingly, the influence of applied potential and cathode material in presence of 1 ppm Pb was investigated. Finally, we transferred the insights to the reduction of acetone manifesting comparable observations as for imine reduction. The results suggest that previous studies on electrochemical reduction in the presence of lead electrodes should be re-evaluated.

Angewandte Chemie International EditionVol. 63(49)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE), Norsk Hydro (Germany) (DE), Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (DE), Scripps (United States) (US), RWTH Aachen University (DE)
National Science Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft, Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe
Clean water and sanitation
Openalex Percentile: Top 29%
Asymmetric Hydrogenation and Catalysis
0.95
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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