Using silver cathodes for organic electrosynthesis and mechanistic studies

In the last decade or so, silver electrodes (almost invariably as cathodes) have captured increasing attention for their ability to facilitate (catalyze) the electrochemical reductive cleavage of carbon-halogen bonds in an enormous variety of organic compounds and under remarkably mild conditions. This short review is intended to call attention to and, hopefully, to stimulate further research and applications related to the use of silver electrodes in areas such as electrosynthesis, mechanistic organic electrochemistry, electrocarboxylation reactions (that could utilize excess carbon dioxide in the environment), nanochemistry, surface chemistry, and the remediation of stockpiles of halogenated environmental pollutants such as pesticides, flame retardants, and chlorofluorocarbons.