Electro-oxidation of paracetamol in the presence of malononitrile: Application for green,efficient, none-catalyst,simple and one-pot electro-synthesis of new paracetamols

Electrochemical oxidation of paracetamol has been studied in the presence of malononitrile as a nucleophile in a phosphate buffer solution (0.15 mol/L, pH 7), using cyclic voltammetric techniques. The results indicated that the N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone-imine derived from paracetamol participates in a 1,4-Michael-type addition reaction with the malononitrile to form the corresponding paracetamol derivatives (6a, 7a). The present study has led to the development of a simple, green, non-catalyst and one-pot electrochemical method with high atom economy under mild conditions.