Synthesis of TEMPO-containing EDOT derivative monomer and its polymer performance for electrocatalytic selective oxidation of HMF to DFF

A novel monomer 4-(4-((2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b][1,4]dioxin-2-yl)methoxy)butoxy)-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl (EDOT-TEMPO) linked by ether bond was successfully synthesized. The corresponding conducting polymer PEDOT-TEMPO was prepared on platinum electrode via electropolymerization and characterized by SEM, EDS, element mapping and FTIR. PEDOT-TEMPO electrode showed high electrocatalytic performance for selective oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-diformyl furan (DFF) in the presence of N -methylimidazole. Moreover, the electroactivity of PEDOT-TEMPO electrode was 85.3 % after consecutive scans of 100 cycles in 0.1 M TBAPF 6 /CH 3 CN solution. The electrochemical oxidation process of HMF on PEDOT-TEMPO electrode was investigated by in situ FITR spectroscopy and the possible reaction mechanism was proposed. • A novel PEDOT-TEMPO electrode with side chains linked by ether bond has been successfully prepared. • The electroactivity of PEDOT-TEMPO electrode was 85.3 % after consecutive CV scans of 100 cycles. • PEDOT-TEMPO electrode exhibited significant electrocatalytic effect for selective oxidation of HMF in the presence of NMI.