Electrocatalytic oxidation of readily available disaccharides in alkaline medium at gold electrode

The electrooxidation of some readily available disaccharides, i.e. trehalose, maltose, isomaltulose and cellobiose, was investigated in alkaline medium. The reaction products were identified and quantified using chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. Important conversion yields and high selectivities towards mono carboxylic acids of some of these disaccharides were obtained. The pH effect on the product distribution was also determined.