The use of electrochemical systems to synthesize compounds have been in use for over a century. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Kolbe Reaction - the dimerization of two carboxylic acids. The main of electrochemical synthesis is the ability to greatly reduce the unwanted side reactions commonly found with classical synthetic approaches.
Electrosynthesis is usually but not exclusively performed in non-aqueous media as as the electrochemical potential windows are generally higher in organic electrolytes compared with aqueous systems. The high solution resistance of organic systems requires high compliance voltage
potentiostats. Princeton Applied Research and Solartron Analytical offer several products ideally suited towards this application. The
PARSTAT 4000A and
ModuLab XM ECS systems both have high compliance voltage and excellent current sensitivity with built in digital coulometry techniques for the determination of product yield.