Mechanism and kinetics of electrocarboxylation of aromatic ketones in ionic liquid

Analysis of the positive potential shift a function of sweep rate (ν) indicated that the mechanism is either ECE or DISP1, or mixed ECE/DISP1. Also from the potential shift with ν, an apparent rate constant (kapp), and a pseudo-first order rate constant (k1), for the coupling reaction was determined and compared to molecular solvent where the rate is over two orders of magnitude lower in IL compared to dimethylformamide (DMF). The low polarity of the IL compared to DMF appears to be the cause of slow kinetics. Finally, plots of kapp vs. Σσ were strictly linear indicating that IL does not preferentially interact with any of the electrogenerated radical anions thus implying that the electrocarboxylation reaction may be a useful probe of IL environments and structure on radical anion reactions.